I get very tense, not to say cranky, if I’m interrupted while playing bridge. But last week I decided it was time to chill out – as I’m sure anyone else would if they too had witnessed Gitte Hecht-Johansen’s extraordinary feat of multi-tasking.
Gitte is originally from Denmark but has long been a fixture – an unusually elegant one – on London’s bridge scene, both as a player and a tournament director. Last Monday evening she was at TGR’s in Paddington, directing the weekly duplicate held there by the West London Gay Bridge Club. I was also at TGR’s for a league match. But one of our opponents was running late, so someone had the idea of asking Gitte whether she would mind standing in for a few boards. Quite unfazed, she agreed. As we sat down, she placed her laptop beside her and began tapping away. ‘Oh, I’m also playing a match online,’ she said. So there you have it: Gitte was simultaneously directing a duplicate, playing online and partnering someone face to face – and staying cool as a cucumber throughout.
Nor did it seem to affect her game. Here, she defeated me in 4♠ with an effortless piece of deception.
Gitte led the ♦K. I ducked, won the ♦Q continuation, and played a spade to the ♠K – upon which Gitte played the ♠J. Had she followed low, I’d have played a low spade next, hoping East started with ♠A6. Now I had a choice: to play Gitte for ♠J10 and East for ♠A86. Which is why I decided to ‘pin’ her ♠10 (and promote my ♠9) by playing the ♠Q. Wrong: now I had 2 spade losers. Can you blame me, given that she was doing three things at once?
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