Bridge

Bob Rowland tells me of this grand slam, played in the Tollemache Final against Warwickshire. South arrived in a grand slam in spades after North had used Roman Key-card Blackwood. South’s 5H response showed one ace and the king of trumps. South’s subsequent 6D response showed specifically the king of diamonds. How would you play the grand when West leads a trump? Declarer counted five trump tricks in the South hand and five top winners in the suits. Three club ruffs would therefore bring his total to thirteen. After winning the trump lead with the ace, he played a club to the ace and took a club ruff. A diamond to the king was followed by a second club ruff. A diamond ruff to hand permitted a third club ruff on which West threw a heart. Suppose declarer cashes the diamond ace, throwing a heart, and tries to reach his hand by playing ace of hearts and a heart ruff. Not good enough! West has only one heart, after his discard, and will score a trump trick. The best play is to ruff the ace of diamonds and draw trumps. You can then score the established ten of clubs followed by two heart winners in dummy.

Answer

Some players would open 1C, saying "I’ll treat that diamond suit as a four-carder." There is little sense in this. If diamonds end as trumps, you will score plenty of diamonds and plenty of clubs. That is not necessarily the case if clubs end as trumps.

AWARDS: 1D-10, 1C-5.

David Bird — Knight Features

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