A One-off Winkle

by Ron Klinger

Seniors. Round 8

Board 4. Dealer West. All Vul.

	♠ – ♥ K Q 8 7 5 4 3 ♦ K Q 9 8 ♣ A 9
♠ A J 8 7 6 ♥ A J 9 ♦ A 3 ♣ K 6 4		♠ K 5 ♥ 10 6 ♦ 10 6 5 4 2 ♣ Q 8 5 3
	♠ Q 10 9 4 3 2 ♥ 2 ♦ J 7 ♣ J 10 7 2

West	North	East	South
	Weichsel		Sontag
1♠	4♥	Pass	Pass
Dble	All Pass

Lead: ♠K

Weichsel ruffed and led the king of diamonds, ducked. Next came the ♦8 to the jack and ace. West played the ♠A, ruffed. North started trumps with the queen. West ducked and won the low heart continuation with the jack. A low club now would have been a good move for two down, but West cashed the ♥A first, then tried a low club. Weichsel needed no second chance. He rose with the ♣A and played another heart to arrive at this ending:

	♠ – ♥ 8 7 ♦ Q 9 ♣ 9
♠ J 8 7 ♥ – ♦ – ♣ K 6		♠ – ♥ – ♦ 10 6 5 ♣ Q 8
	♠ Q 10 ♥ – ♦ – ♣ J 10 7

On the ♥8, East threw a diamond, South a club and West a spade. On the next heart, East had to throw a club to hold on to two diamonds. Dummy let go the ♠10 and West threw another spade. East was down to ♦10 6 and ♣Q. When Weichsel played the ♣9 and East covered with the queen, West had no winning move. If he let the ♣Q win, East would have to lead into North's diamond tenace. If he overtook the ♣Q, he would have to yield the last two tricks to dummy. Thus the loss was held to –100.