Bridge

It’s the last hurrah of the bridge year: the London Year End Congress, which I never miss (although my husband thinks it sounds like a Communist party convention). What better way to spend the days between Christmas and the new year, when most of us feel slothful from over-indulgence, than in the adrenalin-fuelled atmosphere of a bridge tournament? I played in the Mixed Pairs with one of my favourite partners, Sebastian Atisen, and then we joined up with Marcia Green and Claire Robinson for the Teams, which turned out to be even more fun. The hand which most interested me, as it happens, was not played by one of us, but by a former England Junior, David Cole, who long ago moved to Germany and still plays regularly:

Most pairs stopped in game, but a few reached 6♠, including David (East) and his partner Kevin Castner. 2♦ was game-forcing. 4NT was keycard, 5♦ showed one, 5♥ asked for the ♥Q, 6♥ confirmed the ♠️Q plus the ♥ K.

The contract should go down, but a skilled declarer can play for a defensive error, and that’s what David did. South led the ♥Q. David won with the ♥K, drew trumps, then cashed the ♥A and ruffed a heart. Next came the critical play: a low club from the ♣Q6. North should have risen with the ♣A and exited with a club, but he played low. David won with the ♣K, and ran all his spades. In the three-card ending, North had either to bare the ♣A – meaning he could be thrown in with a club to lead away from his ♦J – or bare his ♦J, enabling David to pin it by running the ♦Q (he surely didn’t have the ♦K or would have foreseen the need to play the ♣A). North chose the latter.