I have written over seventy books on bridge and have greatly enjoyed the fact that on around half of these titles I had a distinguished co-author. I learned a lot about the game, you can imagine, writing alongside such giants as Reese, Forester, Helgemo, Hoffman and Klinger. My latest such venture is a co-authorship with the great Omar Sharif! In the book Omar Sharif Talks Bridge (Finesse Books, see website http://bcmchess.co.uk/finesse) Omar describes the deal shown here. It arose during a match of 840 boards against the Aces, the longest match ever played. East’s Lightner Double asked for an unexpected opening lead. What would you have led from Omar’s hand? Both Omar and Bobby Wolff at the table led a low club, hoping that East could ruff. The slam could not then be beaten. Omar continues: ‘There was no reason whatsoever for me to lead a diamond, but a brilliant lead would have been the king of clubs! Left on lead, with a firm two of clubs from partner, it would have been clear to switch to diamonds. The bridge writers made a meal of the hand. One particular writer — I will not name him —wrote that it was obvious to lead the king of clubs. is that so? I don’t remember him ever making such a clever lead.’
What will you say now?
Answer
This problem was posed in an old US Bridge World magazine. By a factor of 2-to-1, its panel preferred a rebid of 3H to 3 NT. In a previous world championship both the Swedish and US West players had rebid 3 NT and gone down when there was a 4-4 heart fit and game in hearts was easy. Nowadays, many players prefer to open 1H on this shape. This makes good sense since partner can show four spades over it.
I have written over seventy books on bridge and have greatly enjoyed the fact that on around half of these titles I had a distinguished co-author. I learned a lot about the game, you can imagine, writing alongside such giants as Reese, Forester, Helgemo, Hoffman and Klinger. My latest such venture is a co-authorship with the great Omar Sharif! In the book Omar Sharif Talks Bridge (Finesse Books, see website http://bcmchess.co.uk/finesse) Omar describes the deal shown here. It arose during a match of 840 boards against the Aces, the longest match ever played. East’s Lightner Double asked for an unexpected opening lead. What would you have led from Omar’s hand? Both Omar and Bobby Wolff at the table led a low club, hoping that East could ruff. The slam could not then be beaten. Omar continues: ‘There was no reason whatsoever for me to lead a diamond, but a brilliant lead would have been the king of clubs! Left on lead, with a firm two of clubs from partner, it would have been clear to switch to diamonds. The bridge writers made a meal of the hand. One particular writer — I will not name him —wrote that it was obvious to lead the king of clubs. is that so? I don’t remember him ever making such a clever lead.’
This problem was posed in an old US Bridge World magazine. By a factor of 2-to-1, its panel preferred a rebid of 3H to 3 NT. In a previous world championship both the Swedish and US West players had rebid 3 NT and gone down when there was a 4-4 heart fit and game in hearts was easy. Nowadays, many players prefer to open 1H on this shape. This makes good sense since partner can show four spades over it.