Apolinary Kowalski of Poland was the declarer who found the brilliancy which eluded some of the world's finest players. It occurred on Board 13 of the Round 14 match between Poland and the hosts, Tunisia:

Board 13. Dealer North. Game All 8 2 K 7 4 Q 10 8 6 Q 10 9 7 A Q J 5 3 9 4 A 8 3 Q J 6 5 2 A J 5 4 2 K 3 — J 6 5 3 K 10 7 6 10 9 9 7 A K 8 4 2 West North East South Romanski Kowalski Pass Pass 1 1 Pass 1NT Pass 3 Pass 3 Pass 4 Dble All Pass

Kowalski was in Four Hearts doubled from the East seat. The play proceeded card for card, for the first six tricks, exactly as it did on VuGraph between USA1 and France, and in the match between Denmark and Venezuela. South led a high club ruffed in dummy, came to hand with the king of diamonds, and finessed the spade. Next came ace of diamonds and a diamond ruffed low and over-ruffed by South.

It has been suggested that, at this point, South should lead a club, but in practice all three Souths led a trump won by the ace in dummy, leaving this end-position with the lead in the West hand:

8 K 7 Q Q 10 9 A J 5 3 9 8 Q J 6 J 5 — — J 6 5 K 10 7 — — A 8 4 2

Declarer has made five tricks so far. When Zia was declarer, he ruffed a diamond low, ruffed a club, and played the winning diamond, but Perron, North, discarded his spade, and the game failed.

When Vernon was declarer for Venezuela, he ruffed the diamond low, took another spade finesse and led a winner off the table. Now Koch-Palmund as North can defeat the game by ruffing high and leading a trump. Declarer is stuck in the East hand and has to concede two clubs at the end. But North made the mistake of ruffing low, and now declarer succeeded by over-ruffing, ruffing a club, and making his last trump en passant.

Kowalski found the solution in the diagrammed ending. He ruffed the diamond high, keeping his precious six of trumps! Then he repeated the spade finesse and led a winning diamond off the dummy. He needed only three more tricks.

If North does not ruff high and lead a trump, declarer easily makes his three remaining trumps, ruffing in hand, ruffing a club in dummy, and finishing with the coup-en-passant. The Tunisian North did very well, correctly ruffing with his king of trumps and leading his seven of trumps. But now Kowalski's great foresight became relevant. He was able to play the six of trumps from his own hand and win the trick in dummy with the eight! The ace of spades in dummy and his remaining trump made ten tricks.