THE ACES ON BRIDGE

“If you’re young and talented, it’s like you have wings.” -- Haruki Murakami .....................

The International Bridge Press Association presented the 2011 Richard Freeman Junior Award to Cedric Lorenzini and Christophe Gosset of France for this sparkling defense. It was played during the 5th World University Bridge Championships, which were held in the National Sun Yatsen University in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

After North transferred to hearts, he offered a choice of games with his jump to three no-trump. South was happy to play no-trump with his doubleton heart.

West, Gosset, led the spade four, and declarer played the 10 from dummy. East, Lorenzini, elected not to cover with his queen. He had noted the danger of dummy’s heart suit, and wished to deny declarer a possible later entry to dummy in spades. He assumed from the bidding that South held only a doubleton heart. Declarer next continued with a low heart to his jack in hand, which West ducked in tempo. South naturally continued by cashing dummy’s heart ace and king, doubtless being surprised when East showed out on the third round. When diamonds failed to break 3-3, declarer could garner no more than eight tricks.

I noticed that another of Lorenzini’s hands made the final selection for this award. That level of expertise by French juniors bodes well for the future of bridge in France. The French took two gold medals at the 2011 World Championships -- the women in the Venice Cup and the seniors in the D’Orsi Bowl. Perhaps an influx of juniors will help their Open Team, which in recent years is not what it once was.