Bridge

Each year, the International Bridge Press Association gives out awards in several categories. Last year was different, in that every winner received an all-expenses-paid trip to Sanya, China, to compete in the Hainan Bridge Festival.

This was the Gidwani Family Trust Defence of the Year winner. Look at the North and East hands. South was in four hearts. West led the spade ace. Given dummy's singleton, East followed suit with the two, a suit-preference signal for clubs. West cashed the club ace and continued with a second club to East's king. What did East do now? Sitting East was Geo Tislevoll. The deal was played during the 2018 North Island Teams Championship in New Zealand. The original article about the deal was written by Liam Milne from Australia.

Tislevoll built up a picture of the deal. Since West had not bid four spades, he had probably started with at most two spades. If West had a singleton, a spade return now would work because he could ruff with a heart higher than North's five. West, a passed hand, could not have the diamond ace, and was unlikely to have a natural trump trick. Many players would shift to a trump, but South wins the trick, cashes the diamond ace, ruffs a spade, discards his last spade on the diamond king and claims. Leading the spade king is not good enough, because South's jack sets up. Tislevoll found the killing play when he led a low spade! Yes, declarer took the trick, but he still had to lose either a late spade trick or, if he tried to ruff his last spade, a trump trick to West.