Bridge Andrew Robson

It’s hard enough to make all 13 tricks on a deal – let alone to bid for them, risking losing everything should even one solitary trick be lost. My advice to most players is not to bother with grand slams. This was the same advice given to me many years ago – though expressed rather more tersely – by my coach when I was playing junior international bridge. I had bid two grand slams in one match, both with the same fatal flaw: the opposition held the ace of trumps.

Having said which, on this month’s deal, North-south were understandably disappointed at reaching only a small slam while all 13 tricks were easy to make. When asked to comment on their auction and where it went wrong, I could not single out one bid. The root of the problem was the issue of captaincy. South had taken control midway through the auction when North should have seized the initiative immediately.

Look at North’s hand in the light of partner opening 1 ♣ . Taking a small gamble about the third round of hearts, all North needs to know about is the number of aces in South’s hand. If South has both the missing aces, then North can visualise that his ♦ 8 will be discarded on ♠ A and there will be no losers in a club contract. So what should North have replied to 1 ♣ ?

Right – 4NT! South would reply 5 ♥ to show two aces, and North would leap to 7 ♣ . This contract could be claimed at trick one. Say West leads a trump – generally the favoured lead against a grand slam on grounds of safety. Declarer wins, draws West’s other trump, crosses to dummy’s ♠ K, cashes ♥ A, trumps ♥ 3, cashes ♠ A discarding dummy’s ♦ 8, crosses to dummy’s ♦ A, cashes ♥ K, and after he trumps ♥ 8, dummy is left with four trumps. Grand slam made without any heavy breathing. ANDREW ROBSON