Table of Contents Page Crunch time in Istanbul 1 England’s Hungarian Rhapsody 2 Round 9: USA v Poland – Women 3 Pharaonic Magic 4 The positional factor 4b Poisoned Kiss 5
Flags will be flying today – Republic Day in Turkey.

It’s time to forget the should-haves and could-haves and go for the IMPs, especially in the Open series of the World Bridge Olympiad. With only two matches left in the qualifying round-robin, all eyes will be on the top four spots in the four groups that will make up the round of 16, starting on Saturday.

No team has a lock on first place in their group, and several teams can make it to the qualifying spots if they perform well today.

Competitors in the Women’s series will have one more day to find out who will be going head to head in the race for the gold medal.

In the International Senior Cup, the Netherlands the USA are running neck and neck for first place, which will be awarded when the 29th match of the round-robin is completed on Sunday.