Hand Stories

Nice Defence

Nils Kare Kvangraven of Norway found a nice deceptive play to defeat a partscore on this deal from Round 10 of the Teams qualifying stage against Uruguay.

Board 20. All Vul. Dealer West.
	ª 10 7 2 © K Q J 5 2 ¨ Q J 9 6 § Q
ª J 8 3 © A 9 7 ¨ 8 7 4 3 2 § 6 4		ª A Q 9 6 © 8 ¨ A K 5 § K 9 7 5 3
	ª K 5 4 © 10 6 4 3 ¨ 10 § A J 10 8 2

West	North	East	South
Hackebo	Carve	Kvangraven	Vi.Chediak
Pass	Pass	1§	Pass
Pass	1©	Dble	2©
3¨	Pass	Pass	3©
All Pass

Kvangraven led the ace of diamonds and paused to consider how to continue. He could tell from the auction that his partner had very little and dummy’s singleton diamond was rather a disappointment also. Perhaps partner might just turn up with the jack of spades and if declarer held precisely ten to three...

Kvangraven switched to the queen of spades to offer a losing option to declarer. Had East held the ªJ instead of the ace, it would have been correct for declarer to duck this trick, and that is what Carve did. Of course, when Kvangraven continued with a low spade to the next trick there was no way that declarer was going to change his mind and get the suit right. He played low again and Hackebo won his jack and wasted no time in returning a third spade to his partner’s ace. The ace of hearts was the setting trick; down one for +100 to Norway.

Catching the Queen

The theme of this deal is not a new one but the old plays still have to be found and on this particular occasion only one defender did so. The deal comes from Round 2 of the Swiss Pairs.

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

West	North	East	South
De Waele	Mak	van Gelder	Ng
		1§	1©
Dble	Pass	2§	2©
3©	Pass	3NT	All Pass

When partner, Kwok-Fai Mak could neither support hearts nor double the 3© asking bid, Alick Ng could reasonably assume that he would not turn up with a heart honour. That being the case, it was unlikely to matter which heart honour Ng led to trick one – unless there was a singleton honour in an opponent’s hand. If that honour was the ace declarer would normally have a second stopper, so the only chance was that it might be the queen that was unguarded.

Ng led the king of hearts and must have been charmed by the sight of dummy. On any other lead 3NT is an easy make – there are even twelve tricks on a heart lead other than the king – but though the successful club finesse means that there are nine winners even on the lead of the ©K, declarer cannot get at them and has to go down. Nicely done.

A Successful Operation

After a week of very serious bridge, it is perhaps undertsandable that a few of the players in the Swiss Pairs are taking things in a slightly more light-hearted manner than usual. Not that they do not want to win, just that the way in which to achieve that goal may involve a little more imagination than usual. The irregular Norwegian pairing of Gunnar Harr and Olav Ellestad tried a little operation during the first match of the competition, their victims being first-time partnership Michael Wilkinson (Australia) and Gareth Birdsall (England).

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

West	North	East	South
Ellestad	Birdsall	Harr	Wilkinson
Pass	1¨	Dble	Rdbl
1©	Pass	Pass	Dble
1ª	Pass	Pass	3NT
All Pass

Non-vulnerable, and facing a passed partner, Gunnar Harr decided to create a little diversion with one of the weaker take-out doubles we have seen this week. When Wilkinson redoubled, Ellestad decided to join in with a psychic bid of his own – perhaps he could get himself doubled in 1ª, which looked to have good chances, if he could get his opponents started with the doubling.

Sure enough, Wilkinson had an obvious double of 1© but, when Ellestad ran to his real suit, he did not fancy doubling that and made a rather heavy jump to the no trump game. Ellestad thought a little about doubling the final contract but wisely decided that if someone was a little light for his bid it was more likely to be his partner than anyone else so passed. Twelve tricks were easy, of course, and the Norwegians had carried out a most successful operation as their opponents missed the laydown slam.

How to Read the Cards Properly

Here is a board from the Round 9 of the Round Robin where declarer easily can make a mistake and go down.

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

West	North	East	South
Chitngamakusol	Ellestad	Vichayapaibunnag	Jorstad
Pass	1NT	2ª	2NT
Pass	3§	Pass	3NT
Pass	4©	All Pass

Olav Ellestad opened 1NT 14-16 HCP and Vichayapaibunnag’s overcall 2ª showed spades and a minor. 2NT was a relay for 3§ and 3NT promised four hearts and a spade stopper (well, it happened before that the bare king won a trick).

In 4© you seem to have a loser in every suit except trumps but the declarer must play very carefully not to be shortened in trumps. East led §K to the ace and Ellestad let East win trick two with ªA. East cashed a club trick then declarer ruffed the club continuation. Ellestad played ace and king of trumps to find these were split four-one. Now East’s distribution was clear like an open book: 5-1-2-5. Ellestad played East to have one of the high cards in diamonds and led ¨10 which ran to the queen. Note the importance of keeping the queen of spades in hand, because if declarer had won ªQ earlier West now could switch to a spade and force a ruff in dummy.