ACES ON BRIDGE

On this deal from the 2014 European Championships, Jacek Kalita was again in the hot seat. Kalita’s cue-bid of two hearts was to see whether North had a minimum hand with four spades. Michal Nowosadzki’s redouble denied four spades. In three no-trump, Kalita ducked the lead of the heart king and won the next heart. Then he somewhat unluckily crossed to a top diamond to lead a club to the queen and a club back to the 10 and jack. It was now necessary for East to cash the club ace and play a spade, hoping declarer could not untangle his entries, as would be the case here. Instead, East played the heart jack without cashing the club ace. Declarer now could have recovered by pitching his club, unblocking diamonds, and building a spade winner by leading to the eight initially, for his game-going trick. But once he pitched a spade, he could no longer succeed. Declarer’s best move might have been to lead the club queen from hand at trick three, preserving his diamond entry. East ducks and wins the next club. He cannot afford to cash the club ace, so he must exit with the spade king. South can win, take dummy’s red-suit winners and then play a second spade; that forces West to give him a reentry to hand. Finally, the only lead to set the contract by force is a club; after a diamond lead, declarer sets up spades and eventually establishes a heart or a club. However, if West finds the early club shift, declarer will need to go up with the king to block the suit.