The oldest is by far the biggest

Bridge Magazine began publication in England in May 1926. It is the oldest magazine on the game in the world. It has two other claims to fame these days: It is free (arriving by email) and usually contains more than 100 pages each month. There are lots of tournament reports, but also the usual fare, with an expert bidding panel, a monthly bidding match with deals that you and your partner may try first, and quizzes. Julian Pottage sets two tough defensive problems in each issue, of which this is one. Look at only the

North and East hands. South is in three spades. West leads the heart queen. You overtake with the ace, and South contributes the king. What next? First, count the points. You and dummy have 21 combined. Declarer presumably has only 12 or 13; otherwise, he would have gone on to game. So, partner must have one of the unseen aces. If it is the spade ace, the opponents missed a lucky game. If it is the diamond ace, that potentially gets your side up to four winners: one heart and three diamonds. Finally, if he holds the club ace, you still seem to have only four tricks: one heart, one diamond and two clubs. Is it hopeless? In theory, yes; but Andy Robson, one of England’s top players, found a ruse that worked. At trick two, he shifted to the diamond two. South, fearing that that was a singleton, won the trick with his ace. Now, though, he had to lose one heart, two diamonds and two clubs. Deceptive defence is difficult.