After seven rounds of the Open round robins, England led Group C by 1 VP from Sweden. The two countries met on vugraph in Round 8.

Board 2. Dealer East. N/S Vul.
	ª K Q J 3 2 © 9 ¨ A Q 10 6 3 § 10 4
ª A 9 5 © J 7 ¨ K 5 2 § K 8 6 3 2		ª 8 4 © A K Q 8 3 ¨ 9 8 4 § A J 7
	ª 10 7 6 © 10 6 5 4 2 ¨ J 7 § Q 9 5

In the Closed Room, Mats Nilsland led the king of spades and, when Glyn Liggins ducked, continued with another spade. Liggins won the third spade and played the jack of hearts then a heart to the ace. That got the bad news and Liggins cashed a third heart then played a club to the king and a club back to the jack and queen. A diamond through meant that the defence had the rest now; four down for -200.

That didn't look great for England but things went even worse for declarer in the Open Room. Colin Simpson led the ten of spades and continued the suit when it held the trick. P.O. Sundelin won the third spade and cashed the jack of hearts. He looked suspiciously at the fall of the ©9 then played a club to the jack. Simpson won the queen and switched to the jack of diamonds. Hallberg could take five diamonds and two more spades for six down; -300 and 3 IMPs to England.

Board 6. Dealer East. E/W Vul.
	ª 9 8 7 5 4 © 8 2 ¨ A J § Q J 8 2
ª 6 © J ¨ K 9 5 4 3 2 § A K 10 9 3		ª Q J 3 © A K 9 6 3 ¨ 8 7 § 7 6 4
	ª A K 10 2 © Q 10 7 5 4 ¨ Q 10 6 § 5

In the Closed Room, Bjorn Fallenius cashed a top spade and switched to his trump to dummy's ace. Joe Fawcett played a small diamond off the table and Nilsland won the jack and returned a spade to the queen and ace. Fawcett ruffed and led the jack of hearts to his ace then led a diamond up. When Fallenius followed low Fawcett judged to duck, dropping the now bare ace. He had to lose two trumps from here, but that was all - one down for -200.

Simpson also led a top spade but switched to his trump at trick two. Sundelin rose with the ace and crossed to hand with a heart to play a diamond to the king and ace. Gunnar Hallberg played back a spade for the queen and ace and Sudelin ruffed then gave up a second diamond. A heart was won in dummy and Sundelin cashed the king of clubs, ruffed a diamond, then cashed the spade jack. With no way back to dummy without suffering an over-ruff, he had to lose the rest for down two; -500 and 7 IMPs to England.

Board 7. Dealer South. All Vul.
	ª J 7 © A 10 4 ¨ A 10 5 4 2 § 7 6 5
ª A Q 4 2 © K Q J 8 7 ¨ Q J 7 § Q		ª 10 8 6 © 6 5 ¨ K 9 6 § J 9 4 3 2
	ª K 9 5 3 © 9 3 2 ¨ 8 3 § A K 10 8

When West's 1© opening is passed round to South, as in the Closed Room, he has to do something. Would your choice be double, 1ª or 1NT? This time double worked out badly because Nilsland made the normal 2¨ response and was not close to making after a trump lead. The contract drifted two down for -200.

The Swedish bidding in the Open Room kept their opponents out of the auction, unfortunately for the Swedes. Hallberg led a club against 2© and Simpson won the king and switched to a low spade, which ran to the jack. Hallberg found the good switch to a low diamond. Johan Sylvan won in hand and tried the queen of hearts but Hallberg rose with the ace to play ace and another diamond for Simpson to ruff. Now Simpson played the ace of clubs. Sylvan could ruff and draw trumps, but had to lose another spade trick for down one; -100 and 7 IMPs to England.

England picked up 3 IMPs on the next deal to extend their lead to 21-5, then the momentum in the match changed with a vengeance.

Board 9. Dealer North. E/W Vul.
	ª 9 7 © A ¨ J 7 4 2 § A K J 6 5 2
ª 10 6 3 2 © K J 5 2 ¨ A K 10 5 § 4		ª K 8 5 4 © Q 9 8 7 4 ¨ 3 § 8 7 3
	ª A Q J © 10 6 3 ¨ Q 9 8 6 § Q 10 9

Given a free run, Nilsland/Fallenius bid the no trump game which requires nothing more than the spade finesse. When that succeeded, there were ten tricks for +430.

Sylvan's take-out double of 1¨ created a very different scenario for Hallberg/Simpson in the Open Room. Perhaps Hallberg might have considered bidding 3NT over Simpson's 3ª bid, but that contract would require nine running tricks to succeed and it seemed more likely that 5¨ would be the correct spot. Sylvan was happy to tell him that he might be mistaken, but even he must have been surprised at just how badly 5¨ doubled went for declarer.

Simpson won the opening heart lead and, knowing that dummy was going to get forced by further heart leads, decided to play East for the ¨10. He led a low diamond to his six at trick two and that lost to the ten. Sylvan returned the king of hearts, forcing dummy to ruff. Simpson was in trouble now and his attempt to get out of trouble did not make things any better. He played on clubs and Sylvan discarded on the second round then ruffed the third one. Sylvan next cashed the two top trumps and played the jack of hearts and another heart. Simpson could ruff but then had to lead spades from hand so, with Sundelin having come down to only a doubleton spade, never made a second spade trick. Sundelin won the ªK and cashed a heart for down five; -1100 and a huge 17 IMPs, and the lead, to Sweden.

Board 13. Dealer North. All Vul.
	ª K Q 9 3 © 9 3 ¨ K 8 3 2 § Q 7 5
ª 10 © A Q 10 5 2 ¨ A Q J 6 § 6 4 2		ª A J 7 6 4 © K 8 7 ¨ - § A K 10 9 8
	ª 8 5 2 © J 6 4 ¨ 10 9 7 5 4 § J 3

Liggins'2¨ response was a transfer so that effectively the two sequences were identical up to 3NT. Now Fawcett contented himself with a bid of 4©, a mild slam try, while Sundelin made a much more serious slam invitation by leaping to 5©, which Sylvan raised to six.

In game, Fawcett received the lead of the jack of clubs so was able to make all 13 tricks for +710. That saved an IMP as the trump lead in the other room left Sylvan to take two club finesses for his slam. Plus 1430 meant another 12 IMPs to Sweden.

Board 14. Dealer East. None Vul.
	ª A Q 9 7 3 © A 5 ¨ 9 6 § K 8 6 5
ª K 10 6 2 © 7 6 ¨ K 10 § J 7 4 3 2		ª J 8 4 © K Q 10 8 4 ¨ A 8 3 2 § A
	ª 5 © J 9 3 2 ¨ Q J 7 5 4 § Q 10 9

In the Closed Room, where the stakes were low, 2ª drifted two down for -100. The stakes were considerably higher in the open room, where Hallberg started out with a low trump lead to Sylvan's six. Sylvan decided to play for club ruffs in the dummy so cashed the ace of clubs and crossed to the ¨K. He ruffed a club then played ace and another diamond, ruffed and over-ruffed. Hallberg played the ace then queen of trumps, drawing all declarer's trumps. When Sylvan led a heart towards the dummy, Hallberg rose with the ace and played a club - the king! That crashed the queen and now the defence had only a trump trick to come. Sylvan made eight tricks for +640 and 12 IMPs to Sweden.

Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul.
	ª J 10 3 2 © A J 7 3 ¨ A 2 § Q J 9
ª A K 9 8 7 5 © 10 4 ¨ Q 9 § K 10 4		ª - © 9 6 5 2 ¨ K J 10 6 3 § 7 6 5 3
	ª Q 6 4 © K Q 8 ¨ 8 7 5 4 § A 8 2

Both declarers made nine tricks for a swing of 450 to Sweden and another 10 IMPs. The Swedish lead was up to 63-21, having scored 58 unanswered IMPs over the last seven deals.

Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul.
	ª A K 10 9 5 2 © J 5 ¨ A 10 2 § Q 10
ª 7 © A K Q 9 8 7 4 ¨ 6 § 8 5 4 3		ª Q J 6 4 © 10 2 ¨ K Q 4 § A J 9 2
	ª 8 3 © 6 3 ¨ J 9 8 7 5 3 § K 7 6

What would be your choice on the West cards? I would go for the 4© call chosen by Liggins and, perhaps not entirely coincidentally, the English player in the Women's series also opened at the four level while her Danish counterpart opened only 3©. While it was easy for East to double 3ª, in neither series did 3ª get doubled. Both English teams therefore picked up a 12 IMP swing for +800 against -150, when everybody was held to six tricks.

Board 20. Dealer West. All Vul.
	ª 10 4 2 © 3 ¨ 10 6 5 4 2 § 9 6 5 3
ª J 7 5 3 © Q ¨ A Q 9 7 3 § A 8 7		ª - © K 10 9 8 7 6 2 ¨ K J § Q J 4 2
	ª A K Q 9 8 6 © A J 5 4 ¨ 8 § K 10

For a second time in five deals, England gained a major swing due to a more aggressive approach on a competitive deal. Fawcett/Liggins were probably not too happy at missing game on the East/West cards. Fawcett chose a mildly invitational sequence when he might have taken a stronger route. Three Hearts made 11 tricks, declarer just losing two trump tricks; +200. As a teammate of Liggins/Fawcett back in England, I can't remember when they last missed a game - of course, I can remember plenty of their games that have gone down.

Simpson's 4ª overcall put a lot of pressure on his opponents. Sundelin decided that he should offer clubs as an alternative spot rather than just bid 5©. Perhaps he was correct to bid 4NT for that purpose, but when Simpson doubled and Sylvan could not bid 5§, surely he did not hold four of them, and 5© would have been a better bid on the East cards than Sundelin's actual choice of 5§.

Simpson led a top spade against 5§ and Sundelin ruffed and played a heart to the ace. Simpson switched to his diamond and Sundelin won in hand and advanced the jack of clubs. I don't understand why Simpson didn't cover that, but it didn't matter very much. When the §J held the trick, Sundelin tried to cash the jack of diamonds, so Simpson was able to ruff with his king of clubs. He played a top spade now and Sundelin ruffed. He played a low heart and ruffed it low in dummy. Hallberg over-ruffed and returned a trump, crashing the ace and queen. Sundelin could cash two winning diamonds but that was all. He was four down for -400 and 12 IMPs to England.

After a good start to the match, England had been blown away in the middle period but the late recovery saw them pull back to lose by only 45-63 IMPs, 11-19 VPs, but the win was enough to put Sweden on top of the group.

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