ACES ON BRIDGE
Journalist Kees Tammens has just retired from his duties with the Dutch team as coach, reporter and cheerleader. This was one of his last contributions to the bulletin. As West, when your lead of the spade king against four hearts holds the trick, you must decide what to do next.
A spade continuation may seem harmless, but it would give declarer the chance for a brilliant maneuver. He could play the spade ace and ruff a spade, lead a heart to the ace, then draw trumps in three rounds, cash both top clubs and endplay East with the third club.
The endplay holds the diamond losers to one and makes the contract. We all wanted to know which declarer, if any, had played like that. Aarnout Helmich, coach of the Dutch girls’ team (and himself a junior world champion in
2011 and 2012), was proud to announce that after the defense of repeated spade leads,
Juliet Berwald of the Netherlands had executed this very neat endplay in her debut in international bridge.
But now you ask: Was there a defense, and if so, did anyone find it? Yes — a diamond shift by West at trick two beats the contract. And, indeed, Brad Johnston from New Zealand found the killing diamond shift when Dutch declarer Thibo Sprinkhuizen ducked the opening top spade lead. While this only led to a flat board (since game was far easier to defeat in the other room after a spade lead, where North was declarer), kudos to Brad here.
ANSWER: With no aces, but a full opener, do you want to drive your hand to game or merely invite it? I’m firmly in the pessimistic category in this case. I would raise to three clubs and, if partner were unable to make another call, be astonished if game turned out to be makeable.
Love of fame is the last thing even learned men can bear to be parted from.
— Tacitus