We have now completed the round robin stage of the open World Championships in Philadelphia. . I am pleased to say that our team qualified and in fact quite unexpectedly led our group. Our team called Auken contained 3 Norwegians a Dane ,a Dutchman , and myself. The highlight of the first phase was a match against the highly favored Cayne team. They fielded tow of the World's very best partnerships in Lauria- Versace from italy and Balicki- Zmudzinski from Poland. After 7 boards we trailed by 27-1 imp. here is the board that started our comeback.
3 showed a good suit in hearts .
My partner Jan van Cleef found the inspired lead of the 2. When Versace played low from dummy I won the Q and returned a club to partner's Ace.
When he played a third club I ruffed with the 8 overruffed with the J. Declarer crossed to Dummy and too a heart finesse. When north won the K ,he was able to play a fourth club I could ruff with the 9 taking declarer's Ace. Now partner had the 105 of hearts over the 74. This was good for two more trump tricks and down 2. This showed the power of trump promotion combined with a great lead. Our teammates made 3n which was good for 11 imps. We were on the comeback trail and edged the result 41-30 or 18vps to 12. Now we have to see what tomorrow brings.