Commons has upper hand in annual match

Press, 2 July 1985, Page 16

Commons has upper hand in annual match

CONTRACT BRIDGE

J.R. Wignail

The eleventh annua] match between the House of Lords and the House of Commons was again sponsored by the “Guardian” newspaper and the Inn on the Park Hotel. At the conclusion Paul Eddington, the star of “Yes Minister,” accepted a cheque on behalf of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The match was won by the lower chamber, to bring the running score to six to five in favour of the Peers. An innovation this year was an award for the bestplayed hand, established in memory of prominent Parliamentarian Sir Anthony Berry, who was killed in the bomb blast in Brighton last October. The first recipient was the captain of the Commons team, Dr John Marek, a former Welsh international player, who was the declarer in this hand dealt by West with neither side vul-

It was a straightforward auction:— W. N. E. S. No 1* 14 INT No 3NT All Pass Against South’s three notrumps, the noble Lord sitting West led the jack of hearts. East overtook with

the ace, cashed the king and queen then put his partner on lead with the 10 of hearts. West switched to his two of spades, covered by the five, queen and king. The declarer could now count only eight tricks, three in clubs, three in spades, and the ace and king of diamonds but he soldiered on. He crossed to dummy’s ace of spades, then cashed the three top clubs. The position had become:—

♦ - Returning to hand with a diamond to the king, South cashed the jack of spades. West could not afford to discard his 10 of clubs for then dummy’s three would be good, so he had to throw away his 10 of diamonds. Away went North’s club, a diamond to the ace dropped the queen and South’s jack took the last trick. That was a well played hand by any standards, but the Lords also had their moments. One of their number had to keep awake during the play of this hand dealt by South with only his side vulnerable, no easy task after a good lunch:—

South decided it was his turn to play the hand, leading to this auction:— S. W. N. E. INT No 2V 24 3* No 34 No 3NT All Pass Four hearts might have been a better contract on the North-South cards, but there were nine easy tricks in no-trumps after West had led a spade to the ace and a spade was returned to the king. Three tricks in clubs, and five in diamonds would bring the total to the required nine. The declarer, Lord Paget, spotted the trap in the diamond suit. If he lazily played the ace, king and queen, leaving himself with the eight or seven in hand, there would be no entry to dummy. Carefully he made the king, led the eight to dummy’s ace, played the queen dropping the seven from hand, and then the five went away under North’s six. It was routine to cash the four, and follow with the three top clubs before claiming his contract.