CHINESE TAIPEI served further notice that they intend to reclaim the NEC CUP this year, doubling GREAT BRITAIN's IMP total, 52-26 for a 21-9 win.

ICELAND, hoping to solidify its position with a sound win against NEC, lost to their hosts, 33-37, or 14-16 in VP. Not a serious setback, but a good indication of how competitive the field is this year.

HISATOMI, one of the teams tied for third to start the day, had a good match against Japan's WOMEN, winning 64-35, or 22-8.

INDONESIA will need to make up a lot of ground to qualify, and they started DAY TWO with a 48-29 victory over YAMADA, 19-11. Decent, but not great for the defending champions.

USA defeated CHINA 45-22, 20-10 in VP, leaving CHINA with a long march to get back into contention.

POLAND-USA defeated Japan's YOUTH soundly, 66-29, for a 24-6 win, thrusting them into the thick of the race. YOUTH have nowhere to go but up.

Bd: V-4 North Dlr: West J8 Vul: Both 94 A832 K10962 West East 1042 Q653 KQ7652 AJ1083 K6 J54 J7 5 South AK97 - Q1097 AQ843 OPEN ROOM WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Kokish Lev Colker Polowan 2 Pass 4 Dbl. Pass 4NT Pass 6 All Pass CLOSED ROOM WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Lesn'ski Kohno Gawrys Harada 2 (1) Pass 4 (2) Dbl. Pass 4NT Pass 6 All Pass (1) Multi (2) Pass or correct (P/C)

Six clubs is a very good contact on Board V-4, but only two pairs of twelve reached it, both in the same match. Perhaps they were goaded into it by the East/West bidding. Michael Polowan, for POLAND-USA, fooled around for a while, discovered that West was precisely three-six-two-two, and led diamonds twice toward dummy's ace for plus 1370. At the other table, YOUTH's declarer was able to establish his 9 as a winner but didn't realize it. He could have cashed it, discarding a diamond, then passed a diamond honor to East, and claimed in the elimination ending. Alas, he played ace and another diamond, misguessed, and found that the ensuing ruff-and-discard did not help him. That was 16 IMPs to POLAND- USA, nearly half their margin of victory.

Four hearts doubled went for 800 four times, and nearly everyone else stopped at 5 (South's bounce to slam is really just a guess).

Remind us to ask Messrs Hisatomi and Teramoto how they came to sell out to Hiroko Ohta-Nobuko Setoguchi in 3, down 200.

Bd: V-6 North Dlr: East AJ74 Vul: E/W AKJ762 - A62 West East 10865 2 103 984 A97 J8642 KQJ4 10953 South KQ93 Q5 KQ1053 87

INDONESIA gained 14 IMPs against YAMADA when Denny Sacul-Ferdy Waluyan made 6 on the singleton spade lead while YAMADA's declarer went down in 7 on the lead of the K. It seems as if you would make 7 by winning the A, cashing the A, leading low to the K, and passing the K when East shows out on the second round of trumps. One of dummy's clubs goes on a diamond, the other on South's long trump. Did declarer start with king-queen of trumps?

GREAT BRITAIN lost 13 IMPs to CHINESE TAIPEI when the Hackett twins stopped in 6 for plus 980 only to discover that Hackett pere and Armstrong doubled YN Yen-MH Wu in 7, which was made by Mr Wu on the lead oif the K; plus 1770.

Of particular interest is the pair of results in USA vs CHINA, where both Howard Weinstein-Ralph Katz and JM Dai-HJ Shih reached 7 . . . and both failed on the lead of the K. No swing, but neither declarer is likely to sleep well tonight.

Bd: V-7 North Dlr: South AQJ54 Vul: Both K6 J J10863 West East K63 10 J92 A53 A1076 KQ9842 K72 A94 South 9872 Q10874 53 Q5 OPEN ROOM WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Kokish Lev Colker Polowan Pass Pass 1 2 2 2NT 3 3NT Pass Pass 4 Pass Pass 4NT All Pass CLOSED ROOM WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Lesn'ski Kohno Gawrys Harada Pass Pass 1 2 2 3NT All Pass

Speaking of sleepless nights, at least one of us has had a lot of trouble sleeping at night but has had no trouble at all napping during the play. Alas, this sleep pattern is not conducive to winning bridge tournaments. We all have good moments and bad ones over the course of a long tournament but it is a fact of life that there are usually only a few deals in each player's tournament ``life'' that are special, requiring something other than normal sound play or defense or good evaluation or judgment. I am sad to report that I failed miserably on Board V-7 when I was called upon to do something a little bit more than fill my chair.

The bidding at our table was quite interesting. I think that a preemptive jump raise to 3 would be a better description of the South hand than the 2 chosen (perhaps 3 was not part of the partnership methods) at both tables. If North had known about South's fourth trump, he would have bid a direct 4, but in the event Sam Lev's 4 was the right thing to do. We could have doubled and collected 200 points but when Rich passed, I went on to 4NT, trying for the game bonus. Sam led the J, depriving me of the vital trick that a spade lead would have conceded. I won in dummy and ran the diamonds, coming down to this ending . . .

North AJ K6 - 108 West East K6 10 J92 A53 - - K 94 South 87 Q107 - Q

When you're functioning like a normal person, you know enough to do the right thing when you believe you know the full layout. All I had to do to make the hand from here was to cash the ace of hearts. If North unblocks the king, I lead towards the J for my tenth trick; the defense gets only two spades and a heart. So North must keep the king of hearts. I cross to the K, and exit with a heart. North can cash a club but must give me the K in the end.

I didn't do this. I am not worthy of my nametag.

So this morning, as you read your daily bulletin, I have been blindfolded and have been placed against a white wall somewhere in downtown Yokohama, a cigarette dangling from my tortured lips (not exactly romantic because I don't smoke). I am awaiting the firing squad that will put me out of my misery. The Junior Bulletin Editor refuses to betray the public trust and will carry on without me. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.