Sacrifice may help partner get in

In “King Lear,” Shakespeare wrote, “Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia, the gods themselves throw incense.”

Chess players are always on the lookout for sacrifices; much less so, bridge players. Thus, when the opportunity for one arises, it is often missed.

This deal was played in a women’s knockout match in Australia.

At the first table, South couldn’t open one no-trump, because it would have shown only 12-14 points: the weak no-trump. (In my opinion, if you wish to get better results, take up the weak no-trump!) So, she started with one diamond. This allowed West an easy chance to overcall one heart. North-South then reached three no-trump played by North. East led the heart six, declarer holding up her ace. However, knowing that West had at least five hearts, North won the second round of hearts with her ace. Then it was a matter of establishing the diamonds without letting West get on lead. North played a low diamond. If East had put up the king, declarer would have ducked in the dummy. But when East played low, declarer won with the ace and led another diamond. The contract was home free.

At the other table, the strong-no-trump opening kept West quiet. Here, declarer made the error of ducking the first two heart leads. This gave East the chance to play the leading role. On the third heart, she could have discarded her diamond king! Instead, though, East parted with a low club.

If East had made that sacrifice, bridge columnists would have thrown verbal incense on her!