52nd European Team Championships
Opatija, Croatia • 21 June – 1 July 2014
Results, On-line Scores & Bulletins LiveBridge.net
In the first Round of the 52nd European Team Championships, Opatija 2014, first Round Robin, Poland clashed with Denmark. The match ended with a great victory of Poland 64-17. In favor of Denmark we can say that there were some tricky decisions to be made in this set and Poland almost always, except in a single board, took the correct ones.
The first board, number 17, was the first favorable score for Poland when they made 6
where Denmark was down in 6NT, they scored their first 14 IMPs.
South played 6 and Askgaard (DEN) decided to led very aggressively with his 
K…this sealed the fate of the contract in 12 tricks and +980… At the other table North played 6NT, the lead was also a heart but this time the K won the trick and also sealed the fate of the contract: one down…
Board 19
Morten Bilde (DEN) opened 1NT (15 to 17), 14 HP plus his good intermediates. Dennis, his son, with a 3433 closed the 3NT contract.
Jassem (POL) led the 8, declarer played a small spade from dummy and covered East’s J with his A, to continue with a diamond to the 
Q winning the trick. Immediately he run the 10 when Mazurkiewicz (POL) played small, West won with his A, and left his hand playing another spade…The Q won the trick. Morten continued with the 2 to the 9 , and the K (West pitched two hearts) and played the 
8, Jassem his 7, dummy’s 2 and East’s Q won the trick.
Mazurkiewicz (POL) continued with another club, and the K covered West’s J. Declarer claimed his contract with: 3 spades, 3 diamonds and 3 clubs.
At the other table the player from Poland in South opened 1 and N/S ended playing 1NT = +120…7 IMPs for Denmark. The next two digit swing was:
Board 21
Poland competed with 5 over Denmark’s 4… Dennis doubled. Declarer lost the A and the A winning his contract. At the other table after North’s 1 opening bid, Konow (DEN) showed his nice diamonds. South pass showing a weak hand. Askgaard (DEN) offered his hearts and East’s 4, showed a nice support with a club control or void.
West closed the heart game, showing he didnt had slam interest and Balicki took the opportunity to compete with his second suit. Askgaard chose to play 5 instead of penalize, Balicki doubled and Zmudzinski with not even one defense trick decided to play 5…after two pass the Denmark player in East considered that his club void, his closed diamond suit, and his fourth trump should be enough for the heart slam … The declarer not only lost the A and the A…he also lost 12 IMPs.
Board 27
This was a very interesting board, West opened with a 2 call, showing a weak hand with the majors. Dennis showed his strong balanced hand with 2NT, East showed values and his spade support and Jassem now knew that N/S defensive values were sandwiched in between and closed the game.
Morten Bilde led his 10 his son won the first two tricks with the A and the K and played the Q. The declarer ruffed with the 8, continued with a to his K and the 7, watching the Q he played the A. Next came the 10 ending with the defense trumps.
The heart finesse closed the play for 10 tricks, at the other table the Denmark players only played 3 after North’s 1NT opening bid.
Here are all the boards of the match: