leggi in italiano »
The Zalesky Team, ending third in the qualifying stage, enters the semifinals as it had been forecast. In the semifinal they face Vytas, the winner of the qualifying stage. The line up is: in open room, Gerulski-Skrzypczac vs Lauria-Giubilo; in closed room are Vainikon-Olanski vs Zaleski-Versace.
The first segment – both the segments were by six boards – should have tied, but an upset for Italians: 4♥ non vul, by Gerulski-Skrzypczac in OR; 4♥-1 in CR. The segment ends 12-6 for Vytas, which adds 4,7 for the carry-over, then 16,7-6. Vytas wins the second segment as well (12-5), gaining the final against the team Era, that meanwhile has beaten the Russian Andrey Gromov with his team Real.
In Era Team play:
Andrey Arlovich,Łukasz Brede,Tom Hanlon, Waldemar Jaworski, Hugh Mcgann,Erikas Vainikonis. The last is son of Vytautas Vainikonis, the Organizing Committee Chairman.
In the first segment of the final the result has been 12-12, but Vytas had 5,2 from the carry-over. In the second, Era trounced the opponents by 20-1, then winning the trophy by 32-18,2.
In the third place play-off, against Gromov (Eugeniy Gladish,Andrey Gromov,Mikhail Krasnoselskiy, Ivan Semenov, Dmitriy Serov), Zalesky starts very bad: 6-27, and -1,7 from the carry-over after the first six board segment. The Italians hold on and win the second segment by an excellent 10-0, but it’s not enough, and the Team Real wins the bronze medal: 28,7-16.
About “our” players , I would say that the final objective was reached with the skills: the strength of the pair Lauria-Giubilo is not in question, and we can say that every hand played by the pair Zaleski – Versace quickly will bring them to that harmony required to attend the level of their competence.
Anyway, well done.
by Gluck, translated by P.E. Garrisi