One benefit of lockdown is that there is much more time for reading. My personal favourite bridge book is Play These Hands With Me by Terence Reese. Reese was the first author to introduce the ‘over the shoulder’ approach when explaining a hand — meaning the reader can follow the thought processes behind the bidding and play of many of his great hands. First published in 1960, it is now back in print after being unavailable for many years and if you haven’t already got it I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Reese said: ‘You don’t have to be able to see the endplays that may crop up — all you have to do is follow normal good technique and watch what’s going on.’
I was reminded of this when I watched this hand, played by the inimitable Norwegian International Thomas (Charlie) Charlsen in a recent online tournament (see diagram).
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