Norway required a big win over a Canadian team in perfect shape after an impressive performance against USA2 in Round 13.

On Board 3 Lavee/Grainger nicely bid 3NT while Demuy/Wolpert won the auction for Canada at the two level at the other table; 11 IMPs to Canada. The next board could have been a much-needed swing for Norway but became one instead for Canada.

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

West	North	East	South
Sundklakk	Demuy	Harr	Wolpert
Pass	1¨	Pass	2§
Pass	2ª	Pass	3¨
Pass	3©	Pass	3NT
All Pass

West	North	East	South
Lavee	Ellestad	Grainger	Jorstad
Pass	1¨	1©	2§
Pass	2ª	Pass	3¨
Pass	3NT	Pass	4¨
Pass	4©	Pass	4NT
Pass	5ª	Pass	6¨
All Pass

Grainger led ©K against 6¨. If declarer wins the ace and plays a spade to the ace to take the diamond finesse the slam can be made. He needs two spade ruffs for 12 tricks, so he takes the first ruff and comes back via a new finesse in diamonds to ruff another spade. On the third high club West can play ¨K but declarer discards his last heart. Running clubs after the lead will also succeed. In practice Olav Ellestad played the clubs to split four-three, a sensible idea indeed. He took ©A, cashed ªA and ¨A then took a spade ruff and ran the top clubs. When West was able to ruff the third club declarer was doomed to go down. Demuy/Wolpert scored +660 in 3NT at the other table; 13 lucky IMPs to Canada.

Ronny Jorstad was angry with himself not to defeat 3© on this board:

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

Jorstad as South started with three rounds of diamonds against 3©. Declarer ruffed the third diamond, drew the trumps then played a club to the king to ruff the last diamond. On the ace of clubs South erred by not unblocking the queen. A second later Jorstad found himself endplayed with only spades left. 140 was a flat board when Wolpert in the Open Room led a spade from his ace against 2©.

Norway won 8 IMPs on Board 10 when Lavee/Grainger went down in a sporting 5§ contract while Harr/Sundklakk made a partscore at the other table. At half-time Norway was far away from a place in the semi-finals, trailing by 18-28 IMPs.

Lavee/Grainger tried 6NT on Board 13 but there were only 11 tricks and Norway got their slam-swing back; 13 IMPs to Norway.

The last big swing in the match came here:

Board 19. E/W Vul. Dealer South.
	ª K Q 6 5 3 © 8 3 ¨ J 6 2 § 9 7 2
ª 7 4 © 5 ¨ K Q 10 8 4 3 § A K Q 5		ª A J 8 2 © A Q 9 6 2 ¨ 7 § 10 8 6
	ª 10 9 © K J 10 7 4 ¨ A 9 5 § J 4 3

West	North	East	South
Sundklakk	Demuy	Harr	Wolpert
			Pass
1¨	Pass	1©	Pass
2§	Pass	2ª	Pass
3¨	Pass	3NT	All Pass

West	North	East	South
Lavee	Ellestad	Grainger	Jorstad
			Pass
1¨	Pass	1©	Pass
2§	Pass	2NT	Pass
3¨	All Pass

Grainger obvious didn’t see where nine tricks in no trump would come from and passed 3¨ out. Harr/Sundklakk even took ten tricks at the other table for 11 IMPs to Norway.

A 18-12 win for Norway gave no reason to bring out the champagne for the Norwegians when their rivals for the qualifying places were winning big. There was one match to go for Norway but that would not be enough to book a place in the semi-finals.