Operation Successful – Both Patients Died By Barry Rigal Eldad Ginossar of Israel was full of praise for Thomas Bessis’s attempts to make consecutive game contracts on two deals from the Round 10 Juniors match between Israel and France. Board 14. Dealer East. None Vul.   ♠ J 10 8 3 ♥ J 8 5 ♦ J 10 9 2 ♣ 8 4 ♠ A K Q 9 ♥ Q 10 9 4 ♦ A K 7 ♣ 10 5 ♠ 7 6 2 ♥ A ♦ Q 8 6 5 4 ♣ K 7 6 2   ♠ 5 4 ♥ K 7 6 3 2 ♦ 3 ♣ A Q J 9 3 West North East South Gaviard Ginossar Bessis Reshef     Pass 2♥ Dble Pass 2NT Pass 3NT All Pass     Ophir Reshef, having shown a limited two-suiter with his 2♥ opening bid, led the jack of clubs against 3NT, zero or two higher. Bessis won the ♣K and cashed the ace and king of diamonds, getting the bad news. Now he tried the effect of exiting with the ten of clubs to South’s queen! Had Reshef taken all his club winners, North would have been squeezed in spades and diamonds, but Reshef could see the danger and carefully cashed only three clubs, North pitching an encouraging heart. Reshef switched to a low heart, dropping declarer’s bare ace, and Bessis cashed two top spades, hoping to drop an honour from South so that North could be endplayed with the fourth diamond to lead into the ♠Q9. When that too failed, he had to go one down. But very well played and also well defended. Incidentally, had South actually held a doubleton spade honour, he would have had to cash one less club before finding the heart play. Now North will still have a second heart with which to get off lead should declarer try for the endplay and South will win a heart and his remaining club tricks. Board 15. Dealer South. N/S Vul.   ♠ 10 9 7 5 ♥ J ♦ 9 8 5 3 ♣ K Q 5 4 ♠ 8 4 3 ♥ K Q 8 5 3 2 ♦ J 4 ♣ A 10 ♠ A K Q J 6 ♥ 7 ♦ K 7 2 ♣ J 8 7 6   ♠ 2 ♥ A 10 9 6 4 ♦ A Q 10 6 ♣ 9 3 2 West North East South Gaviard Ginossar Bessis Reshef       Pass Pass Pass 1♠ Dble Rdbl 1NT Dble Pass Pass Rdbl Pass 2♣ Pass Pass Dble Rdbl Pass 2♦ Pass Pass 2♠ Pass 2NT Pass 3♠ Pass 4♠ All Pass Two No Trump would have made, but Gaviard tried to play the known five-three spade fit and Bessis raised himself to game. Reshef, suspecting that his partner was probably 4-1-4-4 from the auction, cashed the ace of hearts then shifted to a club, ducked to the queen. Back came a trump and Bessis, who did not know that North had four spades, hoped that he might be 4-2-3-4, and ran the spade switch to dummy’s eight! Unlucky – Bessis had his entry to dummy but the five-one heart split was too much for him. Had hearts divided four-two, he could have ruffed a heart, drawn trumps, then used the ace of clubs as an entry to run the hearts. Board 8. Dealer West. None Vul.   ♠ K Q J ♥ A K 10 6 5 4 ♦ A K 4 ♣ 7 ♠ 5 2 ♥ 7 3 2 ♦ J 3 ♣ K J 9 5 3 2 ♠ A 9 8 7 6 ♥ Q 9 8 ♦ Q 5 2 ♣ A 6   ♠ 10 4 3 ♥ J ♦ 10 9 8 7 6 ♣ Q 10 8 4 Thomas Bessis was also the hero of this deal earlier in the match. After a strong and artificial 2♣ opening, Ginossar declared 4♥ on the lead of the two of diamonds. He won in hand and led a low. Bessis took the ♥Q and got out with a heart to declarer. Ginossar drew another round of trumps then played the king of spades so Bessis took the ace and returned a spade. Ginossar ran his winners to come down to:   ♠ - ♥ 4 ♦ A 4 ♣ 7 ♠ - ♥ - ♦ 3 ♣ K J 5 ♠ - ♥ - ♦ Q 5 ♣ A 4   ♠ - ♥ - ♦ 10 9 ♣ Q 10 When the last heart was cashed, Bessis carefully threw the ace of clubs to avoid the endplay, so the contract was one down. Deep Finesse By Barry Rigal Deep Finesse occasionally throws up intriguing play problems. When you discover that a certain contract is laydown, you often move on and think nothing more about it. But when DF tells you a contract will always make, and the defenders seem to have the upper hand, you need to work out why there is no defence. Consider Deal 14 from Round 8, where 4♥ is described as unbeatable. It looks easy; you play to ruff two club sin the South hand, and yet… Board 14. Dealer East. None Vul.   ♠ A ♥ K 7 5 4 3 ♦ K J 5 ♣ 10 5 3 2 ♠ K J 9 7 ♥ 6 ♦ 10 8 7 4 2 ♣ K J 8 ♠ Q 10 8 ♥ Q J 10 8 ♦ 6 3 ♣ Q 9 6 4   ♠ 6 5 4 3 2 ♥ A 9 2 ♦ A Q 9 ♣ A 7 Imagine the contract declared by South after a transfer auction, though who is declarer is not so important, and West leads his singleton trump. It appears to be impossible to take the ruffs. However, as David Greenwood pointed out, the contract can be made. Declarer wins the heart in hand, crosses to the ace of spades and leads a low club towards his ♣A7. East must go in with the nine, else declarer can duck to West, who has no second trump to lead. So South wins the ♣A and West must unblock the jack. But when declarer leads a second club and West plays the eight, dummy ducks and East has to overtake to play a trump. Declarer wins the ♥K, ruffs a club and, when the king falls, the ten is high so that no second ruff is required. So much for that, but what if the club layout was:   ♣ 10 5 3 2 ♣ K J 4 ♣ Q 9 8 6   ♣ A 7 Now West could unblock the jack under the ace and East win the second round without sacrificing a trick in the suit. So, can the contract still be made? Again, the answer is yes. Declarer needs to set up the fifth spade instead. He wins the king of hearts at trick one, unblocks the ♠A and ducks a club to East. Declarer wins the heart return in hand and ruffs two spades in hand, crossing back to via top diamonds. When he ruffs the fourth spade in dummy, East can over-ruff and draw the last trump, but declarer has a club, diamond and spade for the last three tricks, scoring two spades, two spade ruffs, two hearts, a club and three diamonds.

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