May 16 2013
In the Round 7/9 of the Teams Championship of the Grand Prix of Portugal 2013, the João Fanha team: Louro – Fanha – Gonçalves – Curral, the leader at the moment faced the Van Helsing team: Hansen – Berger – Bausback – Babsch, who was fifth at the begining of the match.
At the first board Van Helsing took the lead playing game where the Fanha team stayed playing only 1NT.
After North pass, M.Corral in East opened 1NT (weak 11-14) and his partner chose to pass, declarer make 8 tricks scoring 120.
At the other table, R. Hansen opened 1
, his partner answered 1
and when the opener raised his suit with a 2 bid, closed the game: 4.
The declarer lose 2 diamonds and a club…scored 420 and 7 IMPs for his team. 
Board 2 was 2 IMPs for the Fanha team, but baord 3 sealed the match fate.
N. Bausback in South opened 3
in first position, no vulnerable, and occupied so much space that ended playing the board, and won his contract without problem: +110.
At the other table the bidding was very different:
Joao Fanha prefered to pass his hand and Berger in West opened his hand with a 1
bid. Now Louro could show his two coloured hand with a 3 bid, Hansen closed the spade game with 4, and Fanha: no vulnerable, with double fit, and sure of his opps game, decided a 5 sacrifice… Hansen doubled.
Three down gave the Austrian Van Helsing team 12 IMPs and an advantage that Fanha couldnt overcome. Finally in the last hand Fanah recovered 6 IMPs and the match ended: Van helsing 19 – Fanha 11.
At the end of Round 7, Fanha team for the first time had to leave the poll position to the Debonnaire team: Debonnaire – Souto – Ralha – Jorge – Teixeira – Lamprei, but stayed only 1 IMP below, surely eager to regain the lead … with only two matches to go …
All the Standings: Click Aqui