After the fourth session yesterday morning France appeared to be in disarray, having seen almost all their overnight lead vanish in the face of a tremendous German rally. However, they redoubled their efforts and in the next stanza they appeared to put the match beyond Germany's reach. However, in a final set of boards that might have been scripted by Steven Spielberg a series of brilliant plays saw Germany gradually reduce the deficit. On the penultimate deal Daniela von Arnim, who had already made one outstanding play to keep the match alive, brought the audience to its feet with a second brilliancy to take the trophy back to Germany for a second time.

It was a tribute to the stamina of the teams that they both played four-handed throughout the final.

Despite their disappointment, the French supporters watching VuGraph and their players afterwards applauded and congratulated their opponents in what must be the greatest match in the history of this event. It was certainly the most sporting.

USA II Chip Away Norway's Lead

Amid the excitement it almost went unoticed that USA II has drawn level with Norway. A second nail biting finish is in prospect.

In the final of the Transnational Teams Brachman's USA/Brazil combination lead the Cinderella team of the event, France's Bureau 33-24 IMPs.

The bronze medal has gone to the Grinberg team from Israel.

Following are the Special Categories winners in Transnational Teams:
Mixed Team - Lara (Portugal/Germany/USA) (237 VP) - Maria Lara, M. Capucho, M. Yuen, Irina Levitina
Senior Team - Freed (USA) (233 VP) - Gene Freed, Grant Baze, Joseph Kivel, Chris Larsen
Women's Team - Huei (China)(225 VP) - Y. Huei, Yanhong Wang, Wenfei Wang, Yu Zhang, Jian Wang, Zhen Zhi