| East deals none vul |
 A T 7 3
 A K Q 7 2
 T 4
 A 6
| |
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K Q 9 4 J 6 4 3 K Q 9 8 3 —
| 
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J 6 T 9 6 Q J T 9 5 4 3 2
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| 8 5 2 8 5 A J 7 5 2 K 8 7
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| West Versace pass pass all pass | North Malinowski dbl 3
| East Lauria 3 pass pass | South Sandqvist pass 3 3NT |
| Result: making, NS +400. | |||
| West Townsend pass dbl dbl | North Nunes dbl 4 all pass | East Gold 4 pass pass | South Fantoni pass 4 pass |
| Result: down 3, NS –500. | |||
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World Mind Sports Games 2008
Sandqvist plays 3NT
The English Open team (Townsend/Gold, Sandqvist/Malinowski, Hackett/Hackett) are through to the final, playing a strong Italian team. After the first day, England were 45 IMPs adrift, but with 48 boards to play. Those of you not up at 4am may have missed the first board on the second day, on which they pulled back 14 after Nick Sandqvist made a tricky 3NT. In the closed room, Lauria started with a conservative 3 | |||||||||
| Now playing a spade would endplay Versace into giving him a diamond trick—but one isn't enough, and West can't then be squeezed in the red suits, since whichever club is played first removes an entry. Sandqvist found the solution of crossing to the K immediately, which set up a squeeze without the count in three suits. Versace had to pitch a diamond, and Sandqvist played a club to the ace; now Versace pitched a diamond (anything else loses too) and the spade endplay forced him to give two extra tricks in whichever suit he returned. Excellent declarer play!
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In the open room, former CUBC captain Tom Townsend was playing with his usual partner, David Gold. Gold's 4 At the time of writing, England have pulled back 25 IMPs on the first 16-board set of the day, which leaves them just 20 IMPs down with 32 boards to go. | |||||||||