MAD E I It A
BRIDGE
Indefensible
Andrew Robson
DECLARER must have fancied his sur- roundings — he was playing in luxurious surroundings at Deauville's summer bridge festival — more than he fancied his con- tract when a most unsuitable dummy appeared. Somehow the defenders con- trived to let him make. Their names will stay hidden, but suffice it to say they are both well known British Internationals.
South West North East 14 5+ pass double pass pass Declarer's bold 54 bid, sharply doubled by West with his two unlikely defensive tricks, looks certain to be defeated by two tricks — there is a loser in each suit. Watch the defence mangle their tricks: West led his singleton 4 and East won 4K. At trick two he returned a low 4, perhaps hoping to promote a 4 holding of Jxx in his partner's hand. Declarer discarded his losing IP and West trumped. At trick three West attempted to cash his ♦A. Disaster! Declarer trumped, cashed ♦A and ♦K and trumped ♦8 with dummy's singleton 410. This brought down East's ♦Q, so establishing his ♦J. He trumped a ♦, cashed 4A and 4K, felling West's 4Q, and claimed the remainder.
East's low 4 return had reduced four defensive tricks into three — declarer had got rid of his heart loser and West had trumped at the cost of his natural trump trick. West's ♦A lead had reduced three tricks into two — thus allowing the con- tract to make. Both errors had a crucial feature in common: East should have returned a trump at trick two; failing that, West should have returned a trump — the queen — to stop declarer from trumping his # loser in dummy.
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