CONTRACT BRIDGE Making The Defenders Do The Work

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32386, 27 August 1970, Page 10

CONTRACT BRIDGE Making The Defenders Do The Work

by JR Wj The bridge boom has had one unusual side-effect —it is not nearly so easy to be a bridge correspondent as it used to be. Whereas in the old days there would be one major tournament a month, there is now one a week, making it impossible to report them all in detail. In the last few weeks the Christchurch main centre I pairs were sponsored in its usual lavish fashion by the Broadlands-Dominion Finance Group, and won this year by Mr and Mrs P. J. Oakley, of Crockfords Club, with Mrs R. O. Haigh and Mrs. J. P. Mather runners-up, and R. R. Hudson and L. G. Townsend, I of Dunedin, in third place. I Then Mrs E. G. Garbutt and Mrs G. A. Nutt led' a determined assault by the women of Canterbury upon the Otago women’s pairs. Their victory was extremely popular, only partly because they were two of the four Christchurch women who first [suggested the idea of tournaments for women. Mrs W. Ellis and Mrs H. R. Pool, also of. Christchurch, were second, and Mrs R. R. Hudson and Mrs A. Thomson in third place were the best of the Otago players. The Wellington provincial pairs came next and since it was run this year by the Blenheim Contract Bridge Club there was an implied challenge to all Canterbury players. Many of them accepted it, and Mrs R. J. Eckersley and C. Rowland, of Christchurch, recovered some of their best form from last year to finish third. During the course of the event at least one contestant had to make four spades on these cards: W. E. 5.—K1065 S—AJ9B32 H—KlO 9 H—AB 4 D—lo 6 3 D—9 C—Q54 C—KlO6 East, the dealer, had opened one spade, and with the opponents silent throughout West had raised to two. Realising that although his

hand was minimum in terms J of high cards his six-card s suit and good distribution a made it worth another bid, t East tried three spades. West e with about a king more than e he needed for his first raise i, pushed on to four. ; South won the first trick a with the jack of diamonds and continued with the ace e which East ruffed. The a declarer drew the outstands ing trumps with the ace and » king after which he took a stock. He had lost the first / trick, and must eventually f lose one trick in hearts. The s aci of clubs represented one . more winner for the defence, . so he could not afford to con- , cede a second trick in clubs. He dbuld be reasonably t certain that North held the race for South was already I s marked with the four top i honours in diamonds from . the play to the first two i tricks. With another ace he > would surely have stepped ' into the auction. t For a minute East could . see no better chance than to . lead a small club to the , queen, allowing the ace to i win. Later he would enter . dummy to lead a small club to hi? own ten, hoping that North had the jack. Then the light dawned and he realised the original distribution must have been: N. S—Q4 H—QJ2 D—7542 C—A J 9 3 W. E. S—KlO65 S—AJ9B32 H—KlO9 H-AB 4 D—lo 6 3 D—9 C—Q 5 4 C—K 10 6 S. S—7 H—7 6 5 3 D—A K Q J 8 C—B72 After ruffing the second round of diamonds East drew two rounds of trumps, crossed to the king of hearts, then ruffed the ten of diamonds. Then he simply played off the ace and another heart. North won with the queen and found himself

end-played. If be led a diamond the declarer could discard a club from hand and ruff in dummy and be sure of losing only one trick in clubs. North therefore led a small- club. East played low and dummy’s queen won. Then a small club was led from the table to North’s ace. The declarer took the next trick with the king of clubs, and the balance with the trumps in his own hand. By losing only one diamond, one heart and one club, East had made his contract.

It is true there are other ways of making ten tricks, but the way chosen was almost certain and had the additional attraction that instead of guessing the declarer made the defence do the work for him.