Wednesday's second match proved a high-scoring one, as the closest encounter still ended 22-8. This meant that Poland, Germany and Italy kept up the leaders' pace, while Estonia dropped down the table. Today sees just a single half match after which we get the traditional outing and open tournament.
At this tournament Anders Hagen will be looking for a third consecutive win after Maastricht and Rotterdam. He has made certain no-one will take his record of two wins away from him, as he is paired up with the only other previous winner, his countryman Michael Askgaard, who won in 1999 in Weimar.
The number of card games being played at the bar in the evenings has just grown again. The Dutch have taught the Belgians the game of transfer bridge, and they have now started playing the duplicate version of that game. For details contact Bas Drijver.
Club Brugge, for many people around Europe the main reason why they know the city we're in, have qualified for the third qualifying round of the Champion's League (to the non-Europeans we should explain that this is at soccer).
Club Brugge beat Dinamo Bucuresti by 0-1 and will now face Shakhtar Donetsk.
Other winners on the night and the teams they will face next Wednesday:
Maccabi Haifa - Sturm Graz
Grazer - Lokomot. Moskva
Dynamo Kyiv
*
APOEL Nicosia - AEK Athina
Basel - Celtic
Legia Warszawa -
Barcelona
Boavista - Auxerre
Sparta Praha - KRC Genk
Zeljeznicar -
Newcastle
Brøndby - Rosenborg
Levski Sofia *
Zalaegerszegi - Manchester
Utd
Partizan Beograd - Bayern München
* Kyiv play Levski
In addition, Sporting Portugal will play Inter Milan, Milan AC play Slovan Liberec and Feyenoord play Fenerbahce to nominate the 16 teams that join the 16 pre-qualified teams for the champions league proper.
At the European Athletics Championships in München, Dwain Chambers won the 100 meters in an excellent time of 9.96 seconds.
Ekateríni Thánou won the women's 100 meters in 11.10 seconds.
Heike Drechsler failed in her attempt to win the long jump for the fifth time, coming only fourth after Tatyana Kotova.
 |
Match of the DayEstonia - Netherlands |
 |
Estonia seemed to have recovered from their heavy defeat against Denmark, leading by 3 IMPs after 12 boards against their Dutch opponents.
For the second half, the line-up was:
Open Room
N: Lauri Naber
S: Leo Luks
E: Niek Brink
W: Bart
Hoekstra
Closed Room
N: Bas Drijver
S: Maarten Schollaardt
E: Jaanus
Maripuu
W: Aivar Tihane
| Deal 13 N/= |
 K J 9 8
7 6 4 - Q 9 5 2 9 8 | |
| 5 2
K 8 5 2 A 10 7 4 7 6 3 |
 |
Q A 7 6 4
3 K J 6 K 10 4 2 |
| A 10 3 Q
J 10 9 8 3 A Q J
5 | ||
| West | North | East | South |
| Bart | Lauri | Niek | Leo |
| 3 |
Dble | 4 | |
| Dble | Pass | 5 |
Dble |
| All Pass |
When West doubled 4, his
partner knew he had hearts and bid five. 3 down and 800 for Estonia.
In the closed room EW let play the 4 contract, 11 tricks. 4 IMPs to Estonia. The
Netherlands immediately struck back heavily.
| Deal 14 E/- |
K 10 9
7 2 K Q J 9
7 - 10 8 3 | |
| 8 6 4
A 10 8 2 A K J 6 K 4 |
|
A Q 5
3 5 3 10 8 5 4 A 6 2 |
| J 6
4 Q 9 7 3
2 Q J 9 7
5 | ||
Leo surely thought that what happened against Denmark would turn out better here and he again opened 2NT (minors and less than opening values) on very few values and gruyere-cheese suits. But the Dutch as their Danish rivals knew how to counter the Estonian move.
| West | North | East | South |
| Bart | Lauri | Niek | Leo |
| Pass | 2NT | ||
| Dble | 3 |
Dble | All Pass |
When Bart doubled, Niek took the right view by doubling 3. As the Danish defender earlier that day,
he led a trump smashing North's ruffing possibilities. 4 down and 800 for nice
bidding and a good lead.
In the closed room South also tried to prevent East/West from a quiet bidding
sequence by opening 2, being
weak in diamonds or a strong hand. You can see on the bidding that South luckily
escaped from the same fate as in the open room when North preferred to declare
his suit instead of doubling again.
| West | North | East | South |
| Aivar | Bas | Jaanus | Maarten |
| Pass | 2 | ||
| Dble | Redble | Pass | 2 |
| Pass | Pass | 3 |
Pass |
| Pass | Dble | All Pass |
Good defence for 1 down and 14 IMPs to the Netherlands.
| Deal 15 S/NS |
A Q
10 5 4 2 A Q J 9 2 A K | |
| K 8 5
- K 10 8 7 3 Q J 10 9 5 |
|
J 7 6
2 J 10 9 7
6 6 4 8 6 |
| 9 4 3 A
K Q 8 3 5 7 4 3
2 | ||
In the open room North preferred NT to the more difficult 4 contract.
| West | North | East | South |
| Bart | Lauri | Niek | Leo |
| 2 | |||
| Pass | 2NT | Pass | 3 |
| Pass | 3NT | All Pass |
an overtrick, 630.
Disaster in the closed room !
| West | North | East | South |
| Aivar | Bas | Jaanus | Maarten |
| 2 multi | |||
| Pass | 2NT | Pass | 3 |
| Pass | 4 |
Pass | Pass |
| 4NT | Pass | 5 |
Pass |
| Pass | Dble | All Pass |
Lead A, ruffed. Club and
North takes A, K and hearts again, ruffed. Q and diamond for North's nine.
When the smoke cleared, East was 7 down! 1400. Again 14 IMPs to the Netherlands.
| Deal 16 W/EW |
A Q
6 Q 9 6 5 8 5 Q J 8 5 | |
| K 10 9
4 A J 4 7 A K 9 4 2 |
|
J 8 7
5 K 10 7 Q J 9 3 7 6 |
| 3 2 8 3
2 A K 10 6 4
2 10
3 | ||
When Aivar only raised the 1 answer to his opening bid to 3 they played there, 140 ; Bart raised to 4, 1 down and 5 IMPs back to
Estonia.
Board 17 was flat.
On board 18 Lauri took an astonishingly optimistic view.
| Deal 18 E/NS |
K 10 9
5 A Q 3 A J 8 5 3 2 - | |
| 2
K 6 4 9 7 K J 9 8 6 5 4 |
|
A J 8
6 4 10 9 7
5 Q 10 7 2 |
| Q 7 3 J
8 2 K 10 6
4 A Q
3 | ||
| West | North | East | South |
| Bart | Lauri | Niek | Leo |
| 2 (+) |
Pass | ||
| 2NT | Dble | 3 |
3NT |
| Pass | 6 |
All Pass |
2NT asked partner to bid 3 (to play or to go on if West shows interest). South now bid a
reasonable 3NT. This was the last board in the open room, so perhaps Lauri felt
he had to recover some lost points and bid 6. The good news was the enormous dummy, the bad
news was that East led the A
and gave his partner a ruff, -1.
In the closed room Bas was in 4NT after a battling bidding sequence and
received a club lead (suit bid by West). East of course wanted to show the count
and led the 2 but that
allowed declarer to put in the 3 to put West on lead. End of story for the
defence. 12 IMPs in the Dutch bag.
Board 19 was flat and 20 gave 1 IMP to Estonia (not enough in the Eurovision Song Contest nor in this match!)
| Deal 21 N/NS |
J 10 8
4 7 4 K 6 5 Q 9 7 2 | |
| 9 5 2
9 5 3 2 3 A 10 8 4 3 |
|
A K Q
6 A K 10 A Q J 8 7 4 - |
| 7 3 Q J
8 6 10 9 2 K J 6
5 | ||
At this board it was the turn of a Dutch player to be too optimistic with a diamond hand :
| West | North | East | South |
| Bart | Lauri | Niek | Leo |
| 2 |
Pass | ||
| 2 |
Pass | 3 |
Pass |
| 3 |
Pass | 3 |
Pass |
| 3NT | Pass | 4 |
Pass |
| 5 |
Pass | 6 |
All Pass |
2 showed a weak hand with
or any strong hand.
Although East was on the brakes all the time West went on.
Trumps were 3-3 with the King well placed but the loss of a trump and a spade trick was unavoidable, -1 against 460, 11 IMPs to Estonia.
Boards 22 and 23 killed the Estonian opposition.
| Deal 22 E/EW |
10 9 8
4 3 K 10 6 7 J 7 4 2 | |
| K 5 2
Q 9 3 2 K 10 9 8 3 Q |
|
A Q J
6 J 8 7 5 Q A 8 5 3 |
| 7 A
4 A J 6 5 4
2 K 10 9
6 | ||
Both teams were in 4.
In the open room Lauri in North led his partner's suit, diamonds. Leo
switched to the 10 for the
bare Queen. Now Bart had enough controls to play a trump. North/South played
trumps 3 times but West took 10 tricks, 620.
In the closed room Maarten did not give a club trick away at trick two but switched to hearts. Declarer now went down. 12 IMPs to the Netherlands.
Board 23 saw the Dutch in their usual we-are-going-for-it style bid 4, winning the contract on a heart
lead for the Jack. Estonia stayed out of game, 170 against 620. Another 10 IMPs
to the Dutch team who thus won convincingly by 22 to 8 ; a nice recovery but to
their surprise that result was not that good, with all their rivals taking at
least 24!!! So the battle goes on!
On the Match of the Day in yesterday's bulletin, neither table played the "normal" 3NT contract on board 23.
Among those who did play that contract, few succeeded. Matthias Schüller of Germany did:
| Deal 23 S/= |
A
K K Q 4 A Q 9 3 K Q 8 7 | |
| 9 7 6
5 4 8 3 2
K 8 2 10 2 |
|
Q 10 8
2 A 7 6 7 6 A J 6 4 |
| J 3 J 10
9 5 J 10 5
4 9 5
3 | ||
Matthias took the spade lead and immediately played a low heart towards dummy. It is very difficult for East to see that this has to be taken, and so Matthias was on the table to be able to take the diamond finesses that brought him his contract.