An empty Vu Graph - the nightmare for every commentator? NOT AT ALL! Here is what happened:

I took the lift down to fifth floor to get ready to commentate the next Vu Graph match. But obviously I was there too early. The Vu Graph auditorium was a deserted place, but one could still see a deal played in the preceding transmission of one of the ladies matches. At first sight it seemed that I was left alone with a company of my own and a dull 3NT to go with it.

Board 2. Dealer East. NS Game ª J 7 5 4 © 8 4 ¨ 10 7 § 10 7 6 5 3 ª A ª 8 6 3 2 © K 9 3 © A Q 10 7 ¨ A 8 6 ¨ Q 3 2 § A K Q J 8 4 § 9 2 ª K Q 10 9 © J 6 5 2 ¨ K J 9 5 4 § —

The scoreboard supported my view: 3NT all over the place. Five club tricks, a spade, a diamond and a couple of hearts. Only just before I started to doze off completely, my eye was caught by the result in the match between the Belgian and the Finnish ladies.

In big yellow letters - Belgium's color on that occasion - the table said 6 NT=! I got even more interested when I read that the lead had been the §5! How would you ever lead a small club from your fifth ten, when you know that your opponents have bid no trumps on the basis of a good club suit?

Next I checked if 6NT could be made then, assuming there had been no typing error. Six club tricks definitely must given South a hard time to find six discards. East probably threw all his spade, but would South ever discard 5 hcp and the 10 9 in spades. If South simply threw a heart or too many diamonds it was a simple misdefense. This looked unlikely, but still you never know.

Not at all satisfied with the analysis at this stage I went into a bit deeper, assuming that South followed East spade discards carefully and threw away all his spades plus two diamonds, which - seeing all 52 cards - was the best he could do under the circumstances given.

This would create the following ending:

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

What was South to discard, if West now played the ªA? East threw a diamond and South would probably do the same. Now declarer was in a fantastic position. He could either play out all the hearts and throw South in on the fourth round to lead away from his ¨K or he could play ¨A and a diamond to throw South in to lead into the heart tenace for the twelve trick.

Now I really got curious, was it lazy defense or competent declarer play? I found the Belgian ladies who had played the board and asked them for details. Yes, a club had been led, as West was clever enough, not to mention her longest suit at all!

Suzanne Cypres followed all the discards carefully and saw South throwing away all her spades. Nevertheless, it seemed obvious that South would not let go the spades without good reason to keep a couple of small diamonds instead. So West decided to play four rounds of hearts, and when the ©J did not come down but was with South, she threw South in and was rewarded when South had to give her the ¨Q in the end.

Well done from both sides, with the Belgian ladies having the better end here and in the overall result of 22-8.