Many nations played, many nations won

Karl Lagerfeld said, “I would like to be a one-man multinational fashion phenomenon.” Surely he is.

Bridge’s zonal and world championships are multinational. It is a great aspect of our game that race, religion and skin color have no significance.

This deal occurred during the 3rd Asia Cup, played in Mumbai, India, in June. There were eight championships, and the winners came from seven countries: Australia, China, Chinese Taipei (twice), India, Japan, Korea and Thailand.

What is the best North-south contract? How is it made after a heart lead?

In the auction, South’s double over three hearts showed three-card spade support. Four no-trump was Roman Key Card Blackwood, the reply indicating three key cards (here, two aces and the spade king). Five hearts asked for the spade queen; six diamonds showed her and the diamond king. West’s double was incomprehensible.

At the other table, North-south bid to seven spades. That needed trumps 3-2 and ended down two.

However, at this table, as Sunit Chokshi (South) appreciated, when you seem to have a superfluity of tricks, choose no-trump. He jumped to seven notrump.

After winning with the heart ace, declarer cashed the spade ace to get that news. He then ran the clubs, bringing everyone down to six cards. West had to retain four diamonds and three spades to cover those suits. Not being able to do that, he was squeezed and the grand slam made, giving India B 18 international match points.