Every team played 21 short matches of 16 deals, three daily, scheduled in advance. Italy, Netherlands, USA 2, and Israel earned the first four places comfortably, each almost a full match ahead of the next place. The US champions finished fifth by scoring 340.5 , or 16.2 per match where a draw is worth 15. Sweden, China, and Iceland qualified with fewer than 16 VP per match while Japan, New Zealand, and Australia made strong showings as the first three also-rans, ahead of two Europeans, Poland and Bulgaria. (All six Europeans had qualified for knockout play two years earlier.) Italy, Netherlands, and USA 2 selected quarterfinal opponents China, Iceland, and Sweden leaving Israel to face USA 1. Italy and China, second and fourth in 2009, played the only close match, where Italy built a 5 IMP lead to 26 during the last segment. During the same segment Sweden trailed USA 2 by at least 30, Iceland trailed by almost 100, and Israel conceded to USA 1 without play. Two US American entries in a Zonal Teams knockout always meet in one semifinal match, if they survive so long (and they never meet earlier).# In Veldhoven a strong fifth segment was almost decisive for USA 2, who extended a lead from 12 to 62 IMP with 16 deals to play, and won by 60. Meanwhile, Italy and Netherlands were nearly even at the end of every segment, the only time players know the score precisely. After five Netherlands led by 3+ IMP including 2+ carryover, having bettered Italy 155 to 154 on 80 deals. They "won" the final segment by 26 and the match by 199+ to 170. In retrospect, two "slam swings" were decisive. On the 87th and 90th deals (#23, #29), Netherlands bid 6 and 6 while Italy bid 4 and 4. All four declarers took the twelve tricks for slam, worth twice 13 IMP for the winners. While Netherlands and USA 2 played for the Bowl, Italy easily beat the US champions in 48 deals and earned the bronze medal, 167–69. 2013 Bali, Indonesia Italy won its 15th Bermuda Bowl with a 210–126 defeat of Monaco, represented by Pierre Zimmermann's immigrant professional team. Poland won the bronze medal by a fraction less than 5 IMPs. USA1 finished fourth. 2015 Chennai, India The two-week tournament in Chennai, India (formerly Madras), began on Sunday, 27 September, with one week of