The round robin drew to a peaceful conclusion as the final match was played. The teams at the wrong end of the table, France & China, were in opposition, and the boards were dull. Poland faced USA on VuGraph, but there was little to excite the audience.

Board 3. Dealer South. East-West Game
	ª A Q 9 7 2 © A Q 5 ¨ A 8 6 5 § 10
ª J 10 8 © K J ¨ K Q 9 7 3 § A 6 2		ª K 4 3 © 7 3 ¨ J 2 § Q J 9 7 5 4
	ª 6 5 © 10 9 8 6 4 2 ¨ 10 4 § K 8 3

East led the §Q, and although the contract can be made at double dummy, declarer did not find a winning line, and went one down.

After a typical Meckwell multi, 4§ asked South to bid 4¨. East led the ¨J, West played the queen, and North took the ace. Meckstroth now played a club for the jack, king and ace, and West, who could have defeated the contract by continuing with clubs to force declarer, switched to the ªJ for the queen and king. East went back to clubs, but it was too late. Declarer ruffed, and could arrive at eleven tricks by ruffing out the spades and finessing in hearts. Alas, declarer, probably getting ahead of himself, played the ace of hearts first, and that changed things completely. He was in a hopeless position and finished two down. That was four rather fortunate IMPs for Poland.

Notice that an initial club lead will not defeat 4© if declarer simply plays on spades. He will lose only one spade, one club and one heart.

Board 6. Dealer East. East-West Game
	ª K J 5 © 8 7 3 ¨ A K Q 10 6 2 § 3
ª 10 7 4 2 © K J 6 5 ¨ 8 3 § J 10 9		ª A Q 9 8 © A Q 10 9 ¨ 7 § K Q 8 7
	ª 6 3 © 4 2 ¨ J 9 5 4 § A 6 5 4 2

5¨ was the obvious two down, and although a major suit game played by East might be defeated by inspired defence, it reality it was a good save, repeated elsewhere.

The Poles stopped off a level lower, so they only collcted +100., and the USA had 5 IMPs.

Board 12. Dealer West. North-South Game
	ª A Q 4 © K Q 4 ¨ K J 7 6 4 3 § 2
ª J 9 7 © A J 9 3 ¨ A 9 § A Q 10 6		ª 10 6 3 © 6 5 ¨ Q 10 8 2 § J 5 4 3
	ª K 8 5 2 © 10 8 7 2 ¨ 5 § K 9 8 7

A transfer to diamonds made South the declarer, and West led the seven of spades. You may not believe it, but with South as declarer, 2¨ cannot be defeated, but declarer did not find a winning line, going one down.

The stakes were a fraction higher here!

Meckstroth's double was a three way bid showing a long minor, the majors or a strong hand and required a 2§ response, then 2¨ showed a long diamond suit.

Pczcola lead the ª6 taken by dummy's king. Declarer next played the ¨5 from dummy, Kwiecien ducked, and Meckstroth won with the king. Declarer cashed his two spades and lead the 2§, East winning with the jack as declarer ducked in dummy. East continued with a club ruffed in hand by declarer who now exited with a small trump to West's ace. West was now faced with the problem of what to lead and, not that it mattered, after considerable reflection he chose a small heart, declarer now made the correct guess of playing small and thus made his contract for a score of +760 as opposed to -400 winning 14 IMPs instead of losing 7.

If Kwiecien had gone up with the ¨A at trick two and returned a spade or a trump, the timing would have been wrong, and the contract would have ben defeated. On the other hand, declarer can always get home by not playing the ªK at trick one.