Bridge

If you don’t like highly artificial bidding systems, then the auction below – awarded Best Bid Hand of 2024 by the International Bridge Press Association – isn’t for you. But you can’t deny it’s pretty impressive. With a combined 32 points, balanced hands and no 8-card fit, Linlin Hu (East) and Yinghao Liu (West) were the only pair in a top-flight Chinese tournament to bid slam on a 4-3 fit. All those in 6NT went down.

Most players try to steer clear of Moysian fits, as they’re known – after all, 64 per cent of the time one opponent has as many or more trumps than you. But sometimes they’re the perfect spot:

1♣️ = 16+ any shape. 1NT = 12+ balanced. 3♦️ = 16-17 balanced with a 4-card major. 3♠️ = 4 hearts. 3NT = four spades. 4♦️ = 4 diamonds. 4NT denied 4 diamonds. 6♥️ = good 4-card suit.

It was Hu who made the crucial bid of 6♥️, offering a choice of slams. Liu’s decision to pass with a doubleton diamond and good 3-card support (for ruffs) was equally well-judged. South led a heart. Hu won in dummy, cashed the ♦️KQ, played a heart to hand and ruffed a third diamond. Next he came to hand with the ♠️A and drew trumps. If hearts broke 3-3, he could play the ♠️3 to the ♠️9 to end-play North. But when South showed four, he had to clear trumps. Because South had nine cards in the red suits, he decided against a simple finesse in clubs; instead he went for a strip-squeeze. On the ♦️A, he discarded a club, leaving ♠️K10 and ♣️AQ in dummy. North couldn’t unguard his ♠️Q or ♣️Q, so he came down to ♠️Q8 ♣️KJ. Hu now played a spade to the ♠️K and exited with a spade, forcing North to play away from his ♣️K –slam made.