ACES ON BRIDGE

I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia.

— Dean Alfange

The England-Croatia match in the 2019 European Youth Teams presented today’s problem, where a seemingly ironclad heart game came under threat from a bad trump split.

After an informative auction to four hearts, West led two top clubs. Declarer, Eshan Singhal, ruffed the second as East suggested a doubleton in that suit. When the heart ace revealed the bad news, declarer sought to reduce his heart holding for a trump coup against East. However, it would have been premature to ruff a club at this stage, since that would have allowed East to pitch a diamond.

Instead, Singhal sensibly cashed two rounds of diamonds, ending in dummy, before ruffing a club low as East pitched a spade. The spade ace and king were followed by another club ruff, on which East could do no better than pitch another spade. That brought declarer down to three trumps and a diamond, while East had four trumps left. Needing only two more tricks, South could exit with a diamond to the king, and although East could ruff, declarer could take two more trump tricks.

East would have done no better to ruff in earlier on. Declarer would have simply overruffed and continued about his business. And for those of you who enjoy double-dummy exercises, the contract might have been made against any defense, even if the heart eight and nine were switched, after the top club lead. However, declarer must delay cashing the heart ace until he has ruffed a second club.

ANSWER: Bid one spade.Yes, your hand is three-suited and therefore appropriate for a double, but that would lose a 5-3 spade fit and preclude your side from reaching its most likely game contract, four spades. Your best bet is to overcall one spade and hope you can find a way back into the bidding later on, if necessary.