The bridge world has lost some glittering stars this (ghastly) year, the latest being France’s Catherine d’Ovidio — multiple world and European champion. She described herself in a recent interview as a ‘difficult partner, lovely teammate’. I prefer Tony Forrester’s comment on Bridgewinners: ‘She was adorable and a really outstanding card player.’
Today’s deal is from the World Mind Games held in China in 2012. Many pairs reached 3NT, but only one brought it home (see diagram).
Three rounds of spades cleared the suit for the defence and revealed that West had started with six spades. Catherine had seven top tricks and two more could easily come from the diamond suit. She banged down the ace and the king of diamonds, not wanting to lose the lead to West, and discovered that the diamond suit could not help her.
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