Contract Bridge

THE CLIMB TO MOUNT EVEREST

The bidding was not what you’d call scientific — it is simply recorded here the way it took place in a rubber-bridge game. North was obviously a member of the optimist’s school of bidding.

Actually, his hand was very tempting for grand-slam purposes. From North’s point of view, South might have had both missing aces and a king, in which case seven spades figured to be a virtual laydown. Or South might have held the jack of diamonds plus many combinations including the ace of hearts that would yield all the tricks.

Whether all these factors were given full weight in North’s calculations is not known, but he did have a marked propensity for bidding grand slams. Besides, North knew he’d get good service from South in the play of the cards.

Nor did declarer let him down. He ruffed the club lead in dummy, drew trump, then cashed the A-K-Q of diamonds, discarding a heart. Next he ruffed a diamond, establishing dummy’s six, and ruffed the club seven with dummy’s last trump.

By this time, dummy consisted of a good diamond and the J-7-2 of hearts, while South had the A-K-9 of hearts and king of clubs. East was down to the Q-6-3 of hearts and ace of clubs.

When dummy next cashed the six of diamonds, East ran into a severe discarding problem. If he parted with a heart, declarer would throw his club and score the remaining tricks with the A-K-J of hearts. And if East discarded the ace of clubs instead, South’s king of clubs and A-K of hearts would win the last three tricks.

Whatever East did, there was no escape, and North’s optimism was vindicated.