BRIDGE

It does not matter how good your bidding was if you do not make your contract.this was an excellently bid slam during the World Youngster (under 20) Pairs in Lyon, France, last August. It was also nicely played by Jeanbaptiste Laine from France (South). How did he handle six clubs after West led the diamond three?

The bidding had a modern slant. The two-diamond rebid by Martin Nataf (North) was an artificial game-force, the XYZ convention. North’s four-club continuation promised excellent club support and slam interest; four hearts was a control-bid; four no-trump was Roman Key Card Blackwood; five hearts showed two key cards (as North knew, two aces) and denied the club queen. North settled for six clubs, having no way to find out if his partner had king-doubleton of diamonds without going above six clubs. (Several pairs played in six diamonds, many doubled by East.)

West, hoping his partner had an ace because North had not investigated a grand slam, led his singleton.

Laine won with dummy’s ace and drew two rounds of trumps, believing that East’s jack indicated an initial doubleton. (In contrast, see tomorrow’s column.) Declarer correctly left the last trump outstanding and played a diamond. East took that trick and shifted to a heart. South won with his ace, played a club to dummy’s queen, ruffed a diamond in his hand and claimed, stating that he would cash the spade ace, ruff something on the board and run the diamonds.

Plus 1,370 was worth 60 matchpoints out of 64.