Play of A Champion

By Sam Leckie - Scotland

Irving Gordon, World Senior Pairs Champion (with Boris Schapiro) made an excellent play to land his Four Heart contract for Scotland Seniors when they beat France 1 17-13.

Board 11. Dealer South. None Vul.
	ª K 10 6 © 2 ¨ A K Q 9 8 5 2 § 7 3
ª 9 4 3 © K Q 7 5 4 ¨ 10 4 3 § 10 9		ª A 2 © A 10 8 ¨ J 7 § A K J 6 5 2
	ª Q J 8 7 5 © J 9 6 3 ¨ 6 § Q 8 4

West	North	East	South
			Pass
Pass	3NT	Dble	4§
4©	All Pass

North started with three rounds of diamonds, declarer pitching a spade from dummy on the third round. A fourth round was played and dummy ruffed with the eight of trumps and South correctly discarded a spade, the best defence, and declarer a club. Gordon now played the ten of hearts from dummy and when South did not cover he allowed it to run. That was followed by the ace and king of clubs and a club, ruffed by declarer. A heart to the ace was followed by winning clubs, finishing South as declarer still had the ace of spades in dummy as an entry if and when South ruffed.
Bien Joué.
Yes indeed, but the last paragraph gives the clue to the winning defence. North must switch to the king or ten of spades at trick two. If Declarer ducks, North goes back to diamonds, promoting a trump trick for South. if declarer wins, a vital entry has been removed from the dummy. Editor

By Heinz Guthwert

The Finnish team in the Open Series has made many unforced errors in these championships, which easily could have been avoided and turned several defeats into victory. But once in a while, like on this board in the match against Lebanon, one of the players was able to shine.

Board 10. Dealer East. All Vul.
	ª K 10 7 5 © A K Q 8 4 ¨ Q 7 4 3 § -
ª 9 8 © - ¨ 9 5 § A Q J 10 9 7 4 3 2		ª J 6 3 2 © J 10 7 2 ¨ A J 8 2 § 8
	ª A Q 4 © 9 6 5 3 ¨ K 10 6 § K 6 5

West	North	East	South
	Koistinen		Kiema
		Pass	Pass
5§	5©	All Pass

If one wonders why South passed in the first place, there is a good reason for it. The Finnish pair is playing the Swedish system Carrot Club, where one of a major shows four cards. So the only choice was one heart with that meagre suit. To enter the five level with North's hand shows a brave mind.
Koistinen ruffed the club lead, cashed one heart and got the bad news. Next came three rounds of spades and a spade ruff in dummy. A heart to the king and a diamond to the ten gave some good news. Back to hand with a trump and another diamond. East had to play low and dummy's king took the trick. Now Koistinen ruffed a club with his last trump, East could overruff but finally had to concede a trick to declarer's diamond queen. This meant 10 IMP:s to Finland when West was declarer at the other table in four clubs doubled and went one down.

By Svend Novrup

With a 5-4 fit in one suit and 4-4 in another, we all know that usually it is better to play to use the eight card fit as trumps as that will present you with a discard in the play. That this is not always the case was proved by the Turkish pair Salvador Assael - Nafiz Zorlu in their match against Ukraine.

Dealer East. N/S Vul.
	ª A K 6 3 © J 9 8 7 4 3 ¨ Q 8 § 2
ª 9 8 5 © K ¨ A 5 3 2 § A Q J 4 3		ª Q © A Q 10 6 ¨ K 10 7 4 § K 8 7 5
	ª J 10 7 4 2 © 5 2 ¨ J 9 6 § 10 9 6

West	East
	1¨
2§	3ª
4NT	5©
6§	Pass

Assael/Zorlu, sitting East/West, bid like this in a most natural way. 3ª was a splinter bid agreeing clubs, 4NT asked for aces, and voila! 6§ was easy with two diamond discards on the hearts, ruffing two spades in Dummy.
At the other table the Ukraine North/South pair came to rest in 6¨, which had an unavoidable trump loser in addition to the spade; down one and a swing of 14 IMPs to Turkey.

By Sven-Olov Flodqvist

ne deal in round 29 posed an interesting defensive problem.

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

West	North	East	South
			1§
3ª	Pass	4ª	All Pass

Partner leads the §5 and as you win with the king declarer follows with the nine. How do you want to defeat the contract?

Declarer seems to have seven spades to the AK plus the two aces in dummy. With three diamonds in his hand he will always come to ten tricks, so where I was dummy in the Senior tournament East tried to prevent declarer from getting a heart ruff in dummy, by switching to his low trump.

The problem is that if declarer has AK to seven spades and 3-2-1 in the side suits, the contract will always make. He will win the trump and duck a diamond. Now you have to attack the heart entry, but declarer ducks again. Since you cannot play both spades and hearts, he will get his ruff or enjoy the diamonds.

So you have to bet on the actual layout and return a heart at trick two:

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

It would be interesting to know how many defenders beat the game for the right reasons.

Examine the Evidence

You can be that when Dirk Schroeder gives you a deal it will contain several points of interest. This one from Germany 1 v Wales2 in Round 24 of the Senior Championship.

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

West	North	East	South
	Schwenkreis		Schroeder
	2¨*	Pass	2©*
Pass	2ª	3§	4ª
5§	All Pass

When North opened with a multi 2¨ there was no reason for East to do anything other than pass. South's non forcing relay saw North show his weak two in spades. Now Dirk reasoned as follows:
South made a non-forcing bid and North has shown a weak hand. West, who did not double 2© for take out must nevertheless have some values, but probably less than an opening bid. South is probably set to raise spades, and that will surely be enough to silence West - and probably East, forever. So, despite the vulnerability, Dirk entered the fray. Just as he had suspected, South went to Four Spades and West, faced with a difficult choice, decided to try a bit of sandbagging by only bidding Five Clubs. Of course with South holding both key kings, it was easy to take all thirteen tricks.
In the other room the importance of knowing which suit partner has from the outset was confirmed.

West	North	East	South
	2ª	Pass	4ª
All Pass

The defenders found their diamond ruff, but it was Germany who collected the points.