North-South had an intelligent auction to their best spot. South, who had already denied holding four spades after his Stayman response, bid three spades to show his concentration in that suit. Should North hold four spades and one heart, for example, they could have played in five diamonds instead of three no trump.
South won the opening spade lead with his queen and cashed the ace and king of diamonds, hoping to see the queen fall. No luck there, but he needed more tricks from the diamond suit so he led another diamond to West’s queen. West led the six of hearts and South played the king from dummy, winning the trick. South still did not have enough tricks because he had no entry to his ace of spades. He cashed three diamond winners in dummy and led the king of clubs. West won with the ace and led another club, locking South on the table and forcing South to lead a heart from dummy. The defense was now assured of two heart tricks, but the contract was in no danger. There was no lie of the cards that would allow the defense to take three heart tricks and the defense would have to give dummy the queen of hearts or put declarer in his hand in a black suit.
Published - October 10, 2024 09:00 am IST
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