ACES ON BRIDGE

A match between Hungary and Belgium during the European Junior Championships of 2004 offered the possibility of an interesting line of defense. Even with the sight of all four hands, the killing maneuver is not easy to find. So I think Tamas Szalka was due congratulations for finding the play at the table. Against two spades, West made the natural lead of the heart king. The Belgian South took dummy’s ace, correctly focusing on drawing trumps and not allowing the defenders to shift to diamonds, which would have facilitated their chances of finding the ruff. At trick two, declarer took the spade finesse. In with the trump king, Szalka found the only play to defeat the contract — the diamond six. South played dummy’s 10, and East, Gabor Winkler, won with his king. The spotlight now shifted to East, and he made no mistake, resisting the urge to cash his heart winner. Instead, he immediately returned a diamond. Declarer tried the nine, but West was able to cover with the jack, neatly locking declarer on the table. Now South was unable to exit from dummy without letting East in to give his partner the diamond ruff to set the hand. Had East cashed his side’s heart winner before returning a diamond, declarer could have ruffed a heart back to hand and drawn trumps. And had West shifted to the diamond jack at trick three, declarer’s diamond nine would have become a reentry to his hand.