Bridge

When the legendary Blue Team was at its zenith, it used to be said that "God is an Italian". Well, he does not seem to have changed his nationality.

This deal was played in the Generali European Championship and, unfortunately, I cannot give you the bidding that led the Italian North-South pair to Six Spades. The records disappeared from the Press Room, presumably taken either by the Italian captain for framing, or by the Belarus captain for destruction.

In the Open Series the auction must have been rational, if a trifle optimistic, for South ended in Six Spades.

Well, West might not have had a natural diamond lead, but with his actual hand, it was not difficult for him to start with the #A. A diamond continuation would have done no harm, but West's choice of a switch to the !J at trick two proved distinctly less than punishing. And so North-South registered +980 points.

In no way do I want to detract from the overall Italian performance; after taking the lead after six rounds out of the 34 played, they comfortably retained their place and so won the Gold.

The Italian ladies, playing the same board, chose Three No-trumps as the best resting spot with the North-South cards. Study the diamond situation carefully and you will see that #Q,7 facing #5 is a perfectly adequate guard.