Table of Contents Page An Avalanche of IMPs 1 Russia v England 2 China v USA 3 Russia v USA – Women’s Final Set 1 4
Zia Mahmood, Gabriel Chagas and Sabine Auken in front of the New Bridge Assets cameras

High-scoring matches were the order of the day in the Open and Women’s series of the World Bridge Olympiad, particularly in the third set.

The USA women, in fact, were hit with a 66-0 blitz by their Russian opponents starting the third set of the day, turning a 47-IMP lead into a 19-IMP deficit at one point.

From there it was a seesaw battle as USA surged back into the lead with 16 IMPs on a slam swing, but then Russia came back to take a slim lead with 48 boards to play today for the championship. In all, more than 100 IMPs were scored in the women’s third set.

The Open series featured the same set of boards, and the third set resulted in 99 IMPs changing hands between Italy and the Netherlands, contrasted sharply with the second set, won by Italy17-12. Italy was leading by 38 after the first day of play in the final.

The Dutch and the Italians will conclude play on Saturday with 32 boards.

In the playoffs among the losing semi-finalists, England took the bronze medal in the Women’s series, defeating China 115-81, while Russia defeated China 106-84 in the Open series for third place.

The World Transnational Mixed Teams will begin knockout play today as the top four finishers in the Swiss enter the knockout phase.