Stories From the Tournament

Uppercut KO's Declarer by - Mark Horton

USA2 met Egypt in Round 15 of the Seniors Bowl. Whendeclarer made a mistake he was quickly punished.

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

West	North	East	South
	Mohan		Zia
			1♠
2♥	2♠	Dble	Rdbl
3♥	Pass	4♥	All Pass

North led the three of spades and declarer won and played a club to the king. When that held he played the jack of diamonds, North following with the nine, and that too held the trick. Now he cashed the ace of hearts and had only to play a second round of trumps to land his game.

However, he tried the ten of clubs and was soon alerted to the error of his ways. Zia won the trick, cashed the ace ofdiamonds and put his partner in with a spade. Back came adiamond and Zia ruffed with the ten of hearts, promoting his partner's queen into the setting trick.

The Versace Defense - by Barry Rigal

Alfredo Versace is rarely in need of someone to spring to his defense. Just in case, look again at deal No. 4 from Round 12 in the Bermuda Bowl (Italy versus Sweden).

Board 4. Dealer West. All Vul.
	♠ 6 3 2 ♥ 7 6 5 ♦ K J 8 2 ♣ 7 6 3
♠ 7 5 ♥ Q 9 8 ♦ A 9 6 4 ♣ Q 10 8 5		♠ J 10 9 ♥ K 10 3 2 ♦ 7 5 3 ♣ K 9 4
	♠ A K Q 8 4 ♥ A J 4 ♦ Q 10 ♣ A J 2

In 3NT by South, Versace (West) allowed nine tricks to be made by Peter Fredin by ducking twice in diamonds.

Consider, however, the contract on the actual lead of the ♣5 to the king and ace. (Of course, a low diamond or even a spade lead works better: I wonder what Paul Chemla would think of a successful lead from four to the ace.) Declarer scores the ♦10, then runs five spades. To reach this six-card ending:

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

Note that West must discard the ♣10 to produce the most challenging defense – perhaps declarer's 2NT opener (20-22), marking East with the ♥K and not the ace, hence the necessity of reducing to this ending.

Declarer now leads the ♦Q. West wins and clearly must get out with the ♥8 to the king. Declarer takes the ♥A and has a choice of poisons. Whether he plays a club – high or low – or a heart – high or low – East will, sooner or later, get on lead to shift to the rounded suit not played by South. So the defense can always prevail, right? Wrong! In the diagrammed ending, declarer ducks the ♥K. Now he has an answer for any move the defenders make. Best defense is for East to try a low club, but West is left on play to lead into the heart tenace. If East plays a heart back, declarer rises with the ace to lead a third heart to West's queen to endplay him to lead clubs for the ninth trick.

The General's View

This deal from Round 13 of the Seniors Bowl qualifying highlights a winning effort by Azizul Haque of Bangladesh.

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

West	North	East	South
	Pass	1♠	Pass
4♠	All Pass

Azizul, a retired brigadier–general, marshalled his forces just right after South started the defense with the ♥5.Azizul played low from dummy and took the ♥Q with the ace. He correctly diagnosed that South had led from shortness, so he played to avoid a guess in diamonds.

At trick two, he played the ♠K, noting the fall of the ten from North. Azizul then played the ♠J and let it ride. He knew that even if it lost to a doubleton queen with North, that player could not threaten the contract as long as he had the ♥K, which seemed likely. Azizul's careful play was rewarded when North showed out. Declarer picked up the trump queen, then played a heart, eventually discarding a diamond from dummy and avoiding the guess. As it happened, the play gained only 1IMP because,although declarer at the other table did have a spade loser, when North got in with the second round of hearts, he cashed the ♦A instead of giving South a heart ruff and making declarer guess what to do in diamonds.

Textbook Stuff - by Barry Rigal

Board 14. Dealer East. None Vul.
	♠ 7 2 ♥ K J 8 6 5 4 ♦ 9 8 4 3 ♣ 5
♠ A J 10 9 8 ♥ 10 2 ♦ K Q J 2 ♣ J 2		♠ 6 5 ♥ A 9 ♦ A ♣ A Q 9 8 7 6 4 3
	♠ K Q 4 3 ♥ Q 7 3 ♦ 10 7 6 5 ♣ K 10

A sizeable percentage of the field reached the moderate 6♣ on this deal and were unlucky that South was dealt a natural spade lead. Declarer needs to find the ♣K singleton now – no luck.

In the Bermuda Bowl, Kiran Nadar and Buchiraja Satyanarayana of India stopped in 5♣, and again the ♠K was led. Now declarer has three apparent losers, but declarer (one of the few women playing in the Bermuda Bowl) was equal to the task. She ducked the spade, won the heart continuation, cashed the ♣A and the ♦A and crossed to the spade and pitched her heart loser on the ♦K. Of course, this line would fail if spades were 5-1 and the defense could ruff and still have a trump trick. Perhaps a better line is to win the ♠A, unblock the ♦A and advance the ♣Q. This line succeeds against all 2-1 club breaks. But perhaps South's failure to overcall 1♠ at Love All makes the spade split a better shot? This was the line followed by Ze Ying Lam of Singapore and Sue Picus of USA1 in the Venice Cup: Give South the ♠J, however, and winning the ♠A to unblock the ♦A is clearly the right play.