When the qualifying stages of the 4th IOC Grand Prix for the Generali Trophy were concluded it was the teams from Europe that were the dominant force.

In the Men's Teams Italy, Norway and Poland were joined by Canada. The only drama involved the head to head confrontation between Poland and Indonesia in the last round. The Polish team needed to win the match by a reasonable margin to ensure that they, rather than their opponents, would survive to the knock-out stages, and although they suffered a few minor scares towards the end, they achieved their aim.

After one session of the semi-finals Italy and Norway hold a significant, but by no means decisive, advantage over Canada and Poland respectively.

The Netherlands, Germany, France and the USA are the last four in the Women's Teams. Of the teams that failed to progress, Austria came closest, but they were unable to achieve any significant victories in their final three matches.

Two low scoring encounters in the opening semi-final sessions saw France and Germany stay on course for a repeat of the recent Venice Cup Final. However, there are still thirty-six boards to play, plenty of time for all the trailing teams to turn things round.

The European Junior Teams dominated their American counterparts, and finished well ahead on the same number of victory points. The conditions of contest meant that they could not meet in the final, and the tie was split in favour of Europe North, who face Americas in the final. The third place playoff is between Europe South and North America.