European Mixed Teams – the semis

I enjoyed watching the semifinals today much better than the quarterfinals.  It seemed like they all had turned it up a notch.

The first segment of 14 boards was mostly pretty dull though.  Almost no imps changed hands.  In the Mahaffey-Vriend match the final result sounded like an exciting baseball score … 9 to 8.  It was 10 to 8 in the Zimmermann-Badger match.   Naturally I was a commentator for one of these matches and had to talk about the coffee, the weather and whether the Dutch use of two clubs to show either a good balanced hand or a weak two in diamonds was a good treatment.

All the fun stuff seem to happen in Board 15-28.  Board 23 we curious.  In each match one table played 3NT and the other played in a slam.  When I show you the deal you can decide who won the imps

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ A953 ♥ AQJ ♦ K ♣ K8742
West ♠ KJ10874 ♥ 864 ♦ A32 ♣ 6		East ♠ Q2 ♥ 10972 ♦ 864 ♣ 10953
	South ♠ 6 ♥ K53 ♦ QJ10974 ♣ AQJ

3NT has no problem of course and a slam in diamonds will make as well.  In each match one of the North-South pairs arrived in 6♣ .  Both of those pairs got the killing spade lead and both went down.

With all vulnerable, the auction in the Closed Room in the Zimmerman-Badger match was as follows:

Do you think that South could have anticipated a trump problem on a spade lead and considered a diamond slam?  I think North’s diamond bid must show either the ace or king.  Maybe that is too hard.  In the Open Room South, D;Ovidio just bid 3♦ over 3♣ and this allowed North, Cronier to bid 3NT.

Both of the losing teams get bronze medals (sensibly) and the winners move onto the final tomorrow.