ACES ON BRIDGE

“Self-denial is not a virtue: It is only the effect of prudence on rascality.”

— George Bernard Shaw,

Ramadan requires the devout Muslim not to eat between sunrise and sunset. Waleed El Ahmady seemed to be thriving on this unorthodox approach to bridge when the Egyptians reached the final stages of a world championship (the Bermuda Bowl) twice in succession.

This deal occurred in Egypt's match against the Netherlands in round 20 of the 2005 Bermuda Bowl.

El Ahmady, South, reached three no-trump after a one-heart overcall by Louk Verhees. El Ahmady won the opening lead of the heart king with the ace.

Most players would duck, incorrectly as it happens on this layout (a club switch after two rounds of hearts would sink the contract). Such a defense, of course, is just about impossible to find without a peek at South's hand.

In any event, El Ahmady played the diamond jack to the ace and ran the diamond eight, followed by three more diamonds. Verhees did the best he could, discarding deceptively by pitching a club, a spade and a heart.

On the last diamond, Verhees discarded the spade nine, trying to look like a man still holding three clubs and a bare spade ace. Now declarer had a losing option: he could finesse in clubs, then exit with a spade to the hoped-for singleton ace, and take the club ace-queen at the end, but El Ahmady had not come all the way to Estoril, Portugal, to misguess the ending: he played the club jack to dummy's queen, cashed the ace, felling the king, and claimed his game for plus 400.

ANSWER: Respond one spade. With less than invitational values, it is often best to bypass your longer diamonds, in order to bring a majorsuit fit to light. If the spades were four small and the diamonds even better, you might choose one diamond anyway. But here you plan to pass your partner's rebid at clubs or no-trump.