No Double, No Trouble
by Laszlo Honti (Hungary)
On Board 16 of Round 7, the South player was doomed to go down in 4♠, without seeing all the cards. However, the Hungarian South got a little help from his opponents.
| Board 16. Dealer West. E/W Vul. |
| | ♠ 9 7 3
♥ K 6
♦ K 8 7 6
♣ K 10 5 2 |
♠ K Q 5
♥ J 9 8 3
♦ 5 4
♣ A Q J 3 |  |
♠ 8
♥ Q 10 7 5 2
♦ Q J 2
♣ 9 7 6 4 | | | ♠ A J 10 6 4 2
♥ A 4
♦ A 10 9 3
♣ 8 |
| West | North | East | South
|
| Mraz | | Szegedi
|
| 1NT(i) | Pass | 2♦(ii) | 2♠
|
| 3♥ | 3♠ | Pass | 4♠
|
| Dble | All Pass
| | |
(i) 12-14
(ii) Transfer to hearts
West led a heart and Balasz Szegedi won East’s queen in hand and led a club to West’s ace. Had West returned a passive heart, Szegedi could have played him to hold something like:
| | ♠ K Q x x
♥ J x x x
♦ J x
♣ A Q x |
and tried for a minor-suit squeeze against East. But West played a very descriptive ♦5 instead. Declarer read theposition well. He won the ♦K then played ♣K, pitching a diamond, and ruffed a club, cashed the ♦A and led a heart to the king for a second club ruff with the ♠10. Finally, Szegedi led a low spade towards dummy’s nine. West could win but then had to either give up his second trump trick or lead a heart for a ruff and discard, eliminating declarer’s diamond loser. So that meant +590 an expensive double, without which it would have been tough to find the winning line.
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