U.S. expert wins prize for his brilliant play

Press, 17 March 1987, Page 10

U.S. expert wins prize for his brilliant play

CONTRACT BRIDGE

J.R. Wignall

The 1986 Bols Brilliancy Prize for the best played hand of the year has been awarded by the overwhelming vote of members of the International Press Association to Ed Manfield, a member of the United States team that won the Rosenblum Cup at the World Championships in Miami last October. The hand was written up by Alfred Sheinwold who, as the doyen of bridge writers, made, a great job of its presentation. South was the dealer with only his side vulnerable.

The auction was aggressive on both sides: S. W. N. E. 1V INT 2V 24> 4V All Pass With the West hand, the Pakistani star, Zia Mahmood, overcalled Manfield’s opening bid of one heart with one no-trump, a typical manoeuvre that on this occasion backfired badly. Against four hearts he started the defence with the ace and a low diamond. When East ruffed with the king of hearts, South could be virtually sure of the whole distribution. East would not have ruffed high had he started with three hearts to the king, or even with the king and nine, so he was marked with a doubleton. This left West with six diamonds, three hearts and — since he would not bid one no-trump with a singleton — two black doubletons. Furthermore, since East had bid two spades, West almost certainly held only one honour in the suit.

It is one thing to have the knowledge — Manfield still had to use it. But he never looked like failing. He over-ruffed the second lead of diamonds with the ace of hearts, to continue with the jack of spades. After winning with the queen, West — after some thought — played the king of diamonds. South ruffed with the sevin of hearts, returned

the five of hearts and, when West followed with the two, backed his card reading by finessing the six of hearts in dummy. This play retained the jack of hearts on the table, and allowed the declarer to continue with a low spade to the 10 in his hand. The fall of the nine of spades confirmed South’s original assessment of the distribution of that suit, so now he cashed the king and ace of clubs. This was the position of the remaining cards:

It was time for the coup de grace. When Manfield continued with the ace of spades, West had no answer. If he ruffed with the nine of hearts, the declarer would over-ruff with dummy’s jack and lead a club. The only remaining trick for the defenders would then be the queen of hearts. Nor would it help West to trump the ace of spades with the heart queen for that again would be the last trick for the defence. So West tried the effect of discarding a diamond, but this was no better. North’s last club went away, and the continuation of the queen of clubs put West on the rack again with che same problem. I Ke a gentleman, West qu atly folded his cards a' .d conceded the contract. r .he declarer had lost one trick in diamonds, one in spades, and only one in trumps. While it is true that West could have defended better, in particular by playing the king of diamonds to the second trick instead of forcing his partner to ruff, there is little doubt that Manfield took full advantage of the defensive slip. It was a brilliantly played hand by any standards. X