Bridge: That elusive contract
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.BOTH the best final contract (Six Spades) and the best play proved curiously elusive on this recent deal, so South recorded a minus score in his diamond slam.
East - West game; dealer South
North
A K Q
K Q 4
8 7 6 3
A 7 5
West
10
J 10 9 8 5 3 2
2
10 9 8 2
East
J 9 8 7
A 7 6
J 9 5 4
Q J
South
6 5 4 3 2
none
A K Q 10
K 6 4 3
South's first problem lay in the choice of opening bid. If he opened One Spade, showing a five-card suit, he would be faced with a rebid problem in the event of a Two Heart response. Hoping to introduce his spades later, he opened One Diamond. North temporised with Two Clubs and South raised to Three Clubs. The spade suit was lost and the final contract was Six Diamonds.
West led the jack of hearts to the queen and ace and South ruffed. Two top trumps revealed a loser in the suit and declarer tried the spades, but again the news was bad. South came to hand with a third round of trumps and ruffed a spade to establish the six, but it did not help and he ended with only 11 tricks.
A loser-on-loser play would have saved the day. Declarer should discard a club on the first heart lead, losing the trick but keeping control. Suppose East switches to clubs - after winning in dummy, two top trumps expose the position. Next come dummy's top spades and the marked trump finesse. A spade is ruffed on the table and the king of hearts cashed to discard another club. Now the king of clubs provides an entry to hand to draw the last trick and South can cash his six of spades at trick 13.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments