THE ACES ON BRIDGE

“Whither is fled the visionary gleam? Where is it now, the glory and the dream?” -- William Wordsworth

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In the World Championships held last summer in Lille, Patrick Jourdain of Wales reported on the match between the English Seniors (who at that point were undefeated and had a clear lead in their group) when they met their closest follower, Israel.

At the other table, Israel had reached three no-trump. On a diamond lead, given the risk that there might not be time to establish a heart trick (particularly if East could win the first heart to play a second diamond), declarer might well have been tempted into the double clubfinesse. However, South chose to play on hearts instead, and with the diamonds splitting 6-2, plus West having no entry, the game came home easily enough.

By contrast, at our featured table, where Gunnar Hallberg and John Holland faced David and Daniela Birman, a simple Stayman auction led to four hearts by South. David Birman led a trump, and Daniela won with the king and switched to the diamond five.

David Birman took the inference first that his partner held the two top trumps, and secondly that if East had a singleton diamond, it would have been right for her either to cash both top trumps before playing the diamond, or to win the first trump lead with the ace. So Birman ducked the diamond with an encouraging card. Now East won the next trump and led a second diamond to the ace and received her overruff to set the game.