Lorenzo the Magnificent

by Mark Horton

A member of the influential Medici family, Lorenzo de' Medici became ruler of Florence, Italy, at the age of 20 years, with his younger brother, Giuliano. After his brother's assassination in 1478, Lorenzo ruled alone for a further 14 years, bringing great prosperity to the city.

I wonder if by any chance he might in some way be related to another 'Magnificent Lorenzo?'

When Parioli Angelini met Leszno in a Round 2 the match started quietly but burst into life when Lorenzo Lauria found himself involved in a fascinating series of deals.

Board 5 - N/NS
	ª A 4 2 © 10 6 4 ¨ A 7 2 § Q 9 8 7
ª Q J 8 7 © A 8 7 ¨ Q 8 3 § 5 3 2		ª 9 6 © K J 9 5 2 ¨ K 10 9 6 4 § K
	ª K 10 5 3 © Q 3 ¨ J 5 § A J 10 6 4

West	North	East	South
Versace	Pszczola	Lauria	Kwiecien
	Pass	Pass	1§
Pass	1 D	1H	Pass
2H	Dble	Pass	2S
Pass	Pass	3D	Pass
3H	All Pass

South led a spade and North took the ace and switched to a club for the king and ace. South played another club, forcing declarer to ruff. I imagined declarer would play a diamond to the queen and if North took the ace would then get both the red suits right as North would then have shown up with ten points. However, North would undoubtedly have countered this by smmoothly ducking the diamond, after which declarer might well do the wrong thing. At this moment Lorenzo played a diamond to dummy's eight! North ducked, but not quite fast enough to deny posession of the ace and declarer now played hearts from the top, dropping South's queen. Excellent play, but there was more to come.

At the other table declarer did not divine the position and finished one down in the same contract.

Board 8 - W/-
	ª A Q 10 9 8 3 © J 5 3 ¨ 6 4 § Q 9
ª K 5 © Q 9 6 4 ¨ K Q 5 2 § K J 3		ª J 4 2 © A K 7 ¨ A J 10 § A 10 4 2
	ª 7 6 © 10 8 2 ¨ 9 8 7 3 § 8 7 6 5

West	North	East	South
Versace	Pszczola	Lauria	Kwiecien
1¨	2ª	Dble	Pass
3©	Pass	3ª*	Pass
3NT	Pass	4NT	Pass
6NT	All Pass

It matters not that West's decision to accept his partner's invitation saw his side reach a hazardous contract, for as we all know, 'The play's the thing.'

North led the four of diamonds and declarer won and continued with three more rounds of the suit, North discarding the three and eight of spades. If you make the assumption that hearts must be 3-3 (I'll come back to that) then at this stage you know North is 6-3-2-2. In that event it will not help you to find South with the queen of clubs, (in a different scenario you could also draw the inference that if North held two small clubs he might equally have led that suit.) Our hero cashed the king of clubs and followed with a low one, earning what might be termed 'a strong applaud.'

There are two things that are worthy of comment:

Imagine North had made the strange lead of the ace of spades. Declarer would still need to locate the queen of clubs, but as he can get a complete count and only needs three club tricks he might well play South for that card.
Secondly, imagine declarer had cashed his two top hearts at tricks two and three. If the defenders only produce low cards declarer (this one would!) should still do the right thing. However, suppose North were to drop the jack of hearts under the king (see the commentary to the next deal)? If declarer now finesses in hearts and discovers North's false card we are still in the scenario where we imagine the contract will be made. However, suppose declarer is lazy and imagining the heart position is established, decides North is 6-2-2-3. Is there not a chance he might play South for §Qxx.

At the time I thought declarer should have cashed the hearts first, but there are some entry problems, and who can argue with the skill of Lorenzo?

West	North	East	South
Wojcicki	Fantoni	Poletylo	Nunes
1§	2ª	3ª	Pass
3NT	All Pass

A solid result, but against players at the top of their game, simply not enough.

Elsewhere Herkules collected +800 from 2ª doubled but lost IMPs when Annecy made 6NT. Lombard bid and made 6§ on the East/West cards!

Board 9 - N/NS
	ª A Q 5 2 © Q J 10 3 2 ¨ Q 10 § Q 3
ª K 9 8 7 3 © A 8 7 ¨ Q 8 3 § A K		ª J 10 6 4 © 9 ¨ A K § J 9 8 6 4 2
	ª - © A K 6 ¨ J 9 8 7 6 5 3 § 10 7 5

West	North	East	South
Versace	Pszczola	Lauria	Kwiecien
	1©	2§	4©
Dble	Pass	4ª	All Pass

South tried to shut out the spade suit, but it was not to be. North led the three of hearts and South did his best by winning and continuing with the king, forcing declarer to ruff. A club to the king saw North produce the queen, a briliant attempt to lay a false trail for declarer, (the theme of playing the card that you are about to be known to hold, in contrast to playing the card you are already known to hold, features in one of my forthcoming books.)
Declarer ruffed a heart and after thinking it over decided that if North did have a singleton club then there was nothing to be done. He resignedly played a club to the ace and when 'Pepsi' followed with the three there was a smile from Lorenzo, a flurry of cards, and to more great applause a warm handshake between the players.

The Poles had not played badly, indeed I suspect they would have beaten most teams, but then one does not face such a 'magnificent' opponent every day of the week.