Two brilliant hands played in Penang

Press, 6 January 1987, Page 13

Two brilliant hands played in Penang

CONTRACT BRIDGE

J.R. Wignall

There were at least two very well played hands at the Far East Bridge championships in Penang last month. In no particular order, one was played by Lionel Wright of Auckland who was South on this hand dealt by East with neither side vulnerable:

The opening bid of two diamonds showed a singleton or void in clubs, and three or four cards in each major suit. The final contract of four spades was certainly optimistic and when ' the dummy appeared, looked hopeless. Having doubled, West led the 10 of hearts, the only lead to give the declarer a chance, but even so Wright had to play the hand very well indeed. After winning the first trick with the jack of hearts, he cashed the king of hearts and then led his singleton diamond. When West won with the 10, he switched to the king of clubs, covered by the ace and ruffed by East. The king of diamonds trumped wi|h the

seven of spades, the declarer ruffed a low heart with dummy’s nine of spades, then led the queen of trumps from the table, covered by the king and ace. After cashing the ace of hearts on which North’s last diamond went, he led the jack of clubs which West took with the queen to leave this position:

West was well and truly end-played, and was faced with Hobson’s choice. If he returned a club, North would cover the seven or nine, and East would have a problem without a good answer. If he ruffed, the declarer would over-ruff, draw the other trump, and take the last two tricks with the two of spades and the established heart So West tried leading the ace of diamonds, but this was no better. North ruffed with the three of spades, as the declarer under-ruffed with two.

With the lead in dummy, the 10 of clubs was led and East was again helpless.

If he ruffed; South would over-ruff, draw the last trump, and take the last trick with his established heart. If East, on the other hand, discarded the declarer would throw away his heart, and with the lead still in dummy would pick up East’s trump after the next lead. Wright had confined his loser to a diamond, a club, and a club ruff by as pretty a piece of card play as one could wish to see and thereby made his apparently impossible contract

The second hand was played by Stephen Burgess, formerly of Christchurch, but now a member of the Australian team. He sat South on this hand dealt by West, with both sides vulnerable:

34 4* Dble All Pass The opening lead of a diamond was won by East with the ace, and a heart was returned to the de-

clareris ace. Now Burgess played the queen of spades and East had to duck, for if he took the trick he would have been endplayed. So South crossed to dummy by leading the five of hearts to the queen. This was now the position. N

When the jack of diamonds was led from dummy and East covered with the queen, Burgess, declining to ruff, discarded the seven, of spades. East was left on play with a choice of poor alternatives. If he led a club he would set up dummy’s king, whilst a diamond would establish the rest of dummy’s suit. In desperation he tried to make the ace of spades, but the declarer ruffed, entered dummy by overtaking the three of hearts with the four, and discarded two of his small clubs on the king of spades and 10 of diamonds. Then he conceded a trick to the ace of clubs, but claimed the rest. His brilliant play had confined his losers to the ace and queen of diamonds and the ace of clubs, so he had brought his doubled contract home.