A very deep finesse

By Marc Horton

It’s inevitable that the vast majority of what is included in a championship bulletin will consist of match reports. But there is always an element of luck involved, as the boards may not cooperate, thus making it difficult to find anything of interest to write about - as you have doubtless noticed.

The better stories tend to be the ones told to you by the players, and luckily I still have enough friends who are prepared to take the time to report something special. You may know that story about London buses, you wait for ages and then two of them come along at the same time. Well, sometimes it's the same with bridge deals - ones with the same theme follow each another, as in the case of these two examples from the very first round:

Board 3. Dealer South. E/W Vul.
	♠ 7 6 ♥ Q J 3 ♦ J 10 6 4 ♣ K 10 5 4
♠ - ♥ A 6 5 ♦ A K Q 9 2 ♣ Q 8 7 6 2		♠ 10 9 8 5 4 ♥ 10 9 8 4 2 ♦ 8 7 ♣ 3
	♠ A K Q J 3 2 ♥ K 7 ♦ 5 3 ♣ A J 9

West	North	East	South
Teltscher		Brock
			1♠
2NT	Dbl	3♦	Pass
3♥	Pass	Pass	4♠
Dbl	Pass	Pass	Pass

In the Seniors Bowl Denmark's Steen Møller found himself in four spades doubled after West had advertised a decent hand with both minors and , apparently, a three-card heart fragment. West cashed three red winners, then exited with a club. Steen won with dummy's ten and played the six of spades. When East, in perfect tempo, followed with the four, Steen contributed the two!!

Not too shabby for day one, as I am sure you will agree, and thanks to Peter Lund for providing us with that gem. Within a few minutes this was on my desk:

Board 6. Dealer East. E/W Vul.
	♠ Q 9 8 7 2 ♥ K Q 8 3 ♦ A Q J 6 ♣ -
♠ A 10 3 ♥ A 5 4 2 ♦ K 9 ♣ K J 8 3		♠ K J 6 5 4 ♥ J 7 ♦ 8 7 4 ♣ A 4 2
	♠ - ♥ 10 9 6 ♦ 10 5 3 2 ♣ Q 10 9 7 6 5

West	North	East	South
Teltscher		Brock
		Pass	Pass
1♥	1♠	Pass	Pass
Dbl	2♦	Dbl	Pass
2NT	Pass	3NT	All Pass

England's Kitty Teltscher did well to reopen with a double, but North immediately got out of trouble by taking evasive action. When East showed some values West made another good decision by removing the double - two diamonds is an easy make, probably with an overtrick.

North found one of the leads to put the 3NT in jeopardy: the queen of diamonds. Declarer won in hand with the king and played an innocent-looking three of spades. When North followed with the two, Kitty called for dummy's four! Now she could arrive at nine tricks via the black suit finesses. Perhaps North/South should switch to reverse signals?