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English 55 This annual important event took place in Milton Keynes (England) in November. There were several changes in the participants' list due to the withdrawal of four teams following the severe cheating allegations concerning the 2014 European Team championship in Opatija. The top 10 countries in Opatija were invited to send the winner of their national team championship to England, but Israel, Monaco, Germany and Poland decided to pull out. Signi fi cantly, the Polish team which included Bermuda Bowl winners Piotr Gawrys – Michal Klukowski decided not to play. EBL President Yves Aubry had asked the EBL Investigating Committee to complete its work on the four current cases before the end of 2015. One of those cases concerns Adam Zmudzinski – Cezary Balicki. If they are found guilty, it's still not clear whether Poland could keep the gold medal won in Chennai. Still, the teams that did attend included many top players, some of them from outside Europe. Zia Mahmood played for the host team (EBU), as well as the Norwegians Brogeland-Lindquist. The defending champions, Italy's Allegra also had an international squad: Denmark's Dennis Bilde partnered Giorgio Duboin, while Argentina's Alejandro Bianchedi partnered Massimiliano Di Franco. In the following hand from the all-Italian clash in the Quali fi cation stage both Duboin and Bilde had to make extremely bold moves in order to avoid a big loss. Board 8, Dealer West, Vul None ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 52 KJT52 2 AJ986 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ AK98 A3 AKQ9 Q32 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ T Q94 JT76543 K5 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ QJ7643 876 8 T74 West North East South Duboin Tokay Bilde Sementa 2NT Pass 4 ♠ Pass 5 ♣ Pass 5 ♦ Pass 5 ♥ Pass 6 ♦ All Pass The bidding looks strange. 4 ♠ showed a long minor suit, and 5 ♣ was Pass/Correct. Duboin was willing to play 5 ♣ , but after it became known that his partner's suit was diamonds, he cuebid 5 ♥ (apparently a grand slam try - or perhaps there was still a way to stop at 5NT?!) Bilde was happy to bid 6 ♦ with controls in both black suits. The 14th European Champions' Cup Ram Soffer