In Bridge, the contest between the opposing sides can take an interesting turn if the level of Bridge reflected from both is pretty good. Alertness at the Bridge table is essential along with the foresight to see what is coming ahead.
For unless you anticipate the danger and recognize it well before it envelopes you completely, you cannot escape your doom. In this tug of war between the contestants, both sides have ample Bridge techniques to steer them to the right path. Countless varied methods are put into the play of the cards which can swing the result either way. Of course for the declarer who is in the midst of a difficult contract, it is the ultimate success of making the contract that matter most. Naturally for the defenders, they can only triumph if their defending skill outmatch the defenders and put him down in what could be a makeable contract.
Our illustration for today is one such hand that was played a long time back between two European Bridge playing rivals. The contract was a little slam bid in spades as under on the following NS hands held:
The bidding was a long, protracted one between north and south as under:
Against this contract of 6S lead by NS, west led the KC. As south, how do you view your prospects in the making of the little slam? A look at the dummy reveals 11 tricks for the declarer with 7 in trumps, 2 side aces and the KD. His problem rests on how to avoid the 2 apparent heart losers. Naturally he can only pin his hopes on somehow bringing in the diamond suit good to rid himself of his 2 heart losers. Now the question is how he approaches this if he fears a 3-1 trump break which as was actually the case.
Let us now offer you the other side of the picture by revealing the west east sides as under:
Now that you have the entire picture, let me pose a question for the readers; Do you back 6S to make or the defenders brilliance in defence to make him down? The choice is yours to deliberate and make.
It seems the declarer can make this contract as the distribution favours him. Suppose at trick 2 he leads the KD and 2D to the AD and backs a diamond towards his hand and when east follows, his alternates in play come to the forefront. He can ruff high but then dummy can only he reached with 10S to enjoy the diamonds for which the trump break required is even 2-2, with a 3-1 trump break, as was feared by the declarer, this line would fail. So the declarer uses the second alternate ruffing deliberately low in the hope that the over ruff by west would be from his 3 trump holding and not the singleton in the 3-1 trump break anticipated. As the actual card distribution lay, declarer trumps easily in his play on good judgment. Once west is reduced to a 2 card trumps on the over ruff, declarer's worries are over, for he now has an entry in dummy with 10S to enjoy the luxury of the diamonds for his discard of the heart losers.
But suppose we now place you in the west seat. Can you come up with a brilliants defence to upset the declarer's apple cart for an early road to victory. Yes, you see it clearly that as west you must refuse to ruff to cut the declarer's communication with the dummy for the using the good diamonds. As the greek legend of troy comes to mind that anything offered as a free gift in Bridge deliberately needs to be ponderedat and in 99% cases refused.
So how did you foresee the alternate result? Did the contract make? Or ended in failure with west's good defence? No way! The declarer was equally good and even better. He had a simple remedy to this defence. He crosses to the 8 of spades and leads his good diamond from dummy discarding one of his heart losers. The defence is now kaput. Either defender with 3 trumps can ruff, but then neither canretain more than one trump. This would make dummy's 10S the vital entry for the remaining good diamonds to take care of declarer's other losing heart. The contract made, despite west's best efforts to down it. Bridge is after all nothing but a battle of wits.
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North South
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10 8 A K Q J 9 6 4
5 3 2 A 9 6
A 9 8 6 4 3 K 2
J 8 A
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South North
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2 C 2 D
2 S 3 D
3 S 4 S
5 C 5 D
6 S -
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West East
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7 5 3 2
Q 7 4 K J 10 8
J 5 Q 10 7
K Q 10 6 4 9 7 5 3 2
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