Bridge

Opening lead — king of diamonds.

Looking at all four hands, it’s not easy to see how South can go down at four hearts. His only losers seem to be two diamonds and a trump. Nevertheless, the fact remains that West found a way to defeat the contract.

After cashing the K-A of diamonds, West pondered how his side might get another trick in addition to his ace of trumps. He knew from his partner’s failure to play high-low on the first two diamond leads that there was no chance East could overruff dummy on a third diamond lead.

He also realised from the 27 points visible in his own hand and dummy that South had to have virtually every missing high card to account for his opening bid. Yet, despite all this, West saw a slender ray of hope, and he proceeded to exploit it.

The suit he focused on was the trump suit itself. He recognised that if his partner had the 10-x of hearts, there was a sure way to defeat the contract.

So at trick three, West made the highly unusual play of a third diamond, deliberately handing declarer a ruff-and-discard. South trumped the diamond in dummy, discarded a club and then led a trump to his jack.

It was now that West’s farsighted defence paid off. He won the jack with the ace and returned a fourth round of diamonds, which East cooperatively ruffed with the 10. Declarer overruffed with the queen and continued with the king, but East showed out, and West’s nine became the setting trick.

West was not, as far as we know, a professional magician, but he certainly pulled a rabbit out of the hat on this deal.