stelio-sillafu were not a well-practiced partnership, and they misjudged some boards in the first half of the match with our teammates bringing in very solid results, which allowed us to take a lead. Unfortunately, fatigue set in in the second half, and some bidding judgement did not go our way.
On board 18, Yordan chose to open 1
♦ and rebid 1NT over partner's 1
♠ response, which landed him in 2
♦+2. At our table, stelio chose a 1NT opening and was raised to game after Stayman, for a vulnerable game swing.
On board 23, jfaria quite reasonably decided to upgrade this hand to 2NT. Unfortunately, it was a bad layout, and 3NT and went 3 off. Garozzo opened 1
♦, and after a very meek preempt by my partner, they got out in 3
♦+1 for another 10 IMP loss.
In a last ditch attempt to generate a swing, I opened this sorry excuse of a hand 1
♣ in 1st non-vulnerable on board 27. Partner with a 13-count put me in 4
♥, which had very little play, and of course I got no help from the defense. JEC not only passed initially - he even restrained himself to 3
♥ after his partner doubled a 2nd-seat 3
♦ preempt!
"One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision"
-- Bertrand Russell