Bridge
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.Game all; dealer East
North
4K 6 3
!K Q 10 9 7
#A 10 6 4
210
West East
4A Q 5 4 47 9 8 2
!8 5 3 !4
#J 7 3 #9 8 5
27 6 4 2K 9 8 5 3
South
410 7
!A J 6 2
#K Q 2
2A Q J 2
This was an exciting deal from an early round of this year's Macallan Invitation pairs and featured two of the game's best known players, Omar Sharif and Zia Mahmood.
As South, Omar opened One No-trump and his partner, Christian Mari of France, transferred to hearts with Two Diamonds. With his maximum and a fine fit, Omar jumped to Three Hearts and a flurry of cue-bids led to Six Hearts. The intriguing thing was that when Omar had cue-bid Four Clubs, Zia had thrown in a double with the West cards!
This psychic double had a dramatic effect on the play, for after a trump lead, Omar had drawn two more rounds of the suit before cashing the king and queen of diamonds. Both opponents petered deceptively, ostensibly showing an even number of cards in the suit, and, rather than play for the diamonds to break evenly and the 4A to be right, declarer decided to take the ruffing finesse in clubs against West's supposed king. Oh dear! It was East (Gabriel Chagas of Brazil) who turned up with 2K and his spade return sank the contract.
Zia's brilliance had undoubtedly earned the swing, but it also had its drawbacks. Later in the tournament, he again threw in a double in the middle of his opponents' constructive auction, but this time he actually held the suit. Remembering Zia's earlier coup, Chagas did not lead the suit and a slam rolled in with an overtrick instead of going two off!
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments