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Your support makes all the difference.This deal from the World Team Olympiad produced excitement at every table. When Italy played Egypt, only the Egyptian South rated his hand as worth an opening bid. His Italian counterpart passed and North opened 1!. East pre-empted with 44, South doubled to show values, and North bid 5#. South went back to 5! and North-South collected a peaceful 680 points.
At the other table, North responded 1! to South's 1# and again East intervened with 44. After two passes, North advanced, rather cautiously, to only 5# and East doubled! It was a Lightner-type double: he hoped to attract an unusual lead (a heart) and be able to cash two clubs.
It was not easy for West to work out what was required; his spade lead led to two overtricks and a score of 1,150 points. Yes, a heart lead does defeat the contract, but only if East underleads his club honours at trick two.
Paul Hackett, for Britain, was allowed to play in 4! doubled and, as the defence persisted with hearts at every available opportunity, eventually a losing diamond went away on dummy's long club.
Mind you, this all pales into insignificance when you consider the Russia- Greece clash. Russia played the North-South cards in 6! redoubled and collected 2170 points.
And at the other tables? I shall not give the full auction in case any of my readers are of a particularly nervous disposition. Suffice it to say that the Greek contract of 6NT doubled did not play at all well on a club lead and the penalty was 1,100 - this all converted into a Russian gain of 22 imps.
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