An old warrior wins again

Press, 3 February 1987, Page 11

An old warrior wins again

CONTRACT BRIDGE

J.R. Wignall

For many years Bruce C. Bell has been a leading figure in New Zealand bridge; he has been playing competitively now for half a century. Still the top winner of master points, his record of 21 victories in the New Zea- 1 land Teams of Four between 1947 and 1972 is likely to stand for all time. Interspersed with this were four wins in the New Zealand Pairs, and two caps for representing his country in the Far East Championships. He has also been active in administration, was a columnist for an Auckland newspaper for many years, and has supported in a very practical way most of the clubs in the Auckland province. Without doubt the M.B.E. he was awarded a couple of years ago was well deserved, arid only the second given for services to contract bridge.

Now well into his seventies, Bruce Bell retains a keen and active brain. He is still a formidable opponent, even though he has little time for the artificialities that have crept into modern bridge. Though his bidding may be a little blunt, there is nothing wrong

with the card play. ' . Watch him at work on this hand from the Auckland CLub Christmas event. West was the dealer with only NorthSouth vulnerable:

The auction was com-

All pass After the opening bid of one diamond and East’s one spade overcall, South’s double showed a good hand with the other two suits. His subsequent call of three hearts confirmed a five-card suit, so North was happy to raise to game. When the non-vul-nerable opponents sacrificed in four spades, Bell took the push, finishing in the fragile contract of five hearts.

West’s opening lead of a low spade was ruffed in dummy, the ace and king

of diamonds were made, on which the declarer discarded a low club from his hand, then a diamond was ruffed low, as East threw a spade. Bell trumped the 10 of spades with North’s second low heart, and continued with a fourth diamond from dummy. This time East ruffed with the jack of hearts, but South over-ruffed, trumped his last spade with the king of hearts, and cashed the ace and king of clubs. Then he lost his first trick by conceding a club to East’s queen. At this stage, his remaining three cards were the 10, nine and four of hearts. When East led the ace of spades Bell trumped with the nine of hearts. Reading the position well, he continued with the heart four, taken by the queen. The 10 of hearts then took the last trick, the declarer having lost only to the queen of clubs and queen of trumps. That was a nicely played hand, but Bruce was the first to point out that he could have done even better. Had he doubled four spades, the defence could have cashed, in order, the ace and king of hearts, the ace and king of clubs, and then the two top diamonds. Now a third round of diamonds promotes a trump trick for South and the penalty is 700. As always, the might-have-beens are the most interesting part of the game.