Bridge | 14 July 2012

Much as I love chit-chatting, there’s no space this week. The hand I want to describe, played by Frank Multon (Monaco) in the recent Europeans, requires not one but two diagrams. Multon worked out the answer in his head during a pressurised match. The rest of us get to view all four hands at leisure, and still we can’t visualise the ‘end position’ without seeing it in writing. At least, I can’t. If you can, I’m available for a game any time: 

West led the ♣7, which Multon ducked to East’s ♣Q. East switched to a trump. Believe it or not, the contract is now unbeatable: East can be squeezed in three suits and West in two (although a spade or diamond switch by East would have broken it up). Multon drew trumps, West throwing spades, then played a fourth round on which East had to discard either a spade or a diamond (either way, he’s squeezed).