MILLENIUM
QUIZ – Answers
|
WEST
S:A86542
H:A9753 D:none C:32 |
|
EAST
S:973
H:KQ2 D:AK4 C:AKQJ |
(East is the dealer in a family rubber bridge session.North-South are competent defenders and will open with a club lead against the final contract.)
i.The highest contract possible, if you assume that the opponents hold the most frequent distribution in each suit, is seven clubs.
ii.The best contract is six no-trumps (six hearts or six spades depend on a favourable break in the trump suit.Six no-trumps depends on a favourable break in either major suit.)
iii.In seven clubs, declarer takes the club lead and trumps his four of diamonds.He crosses back to the king of hearts and draws three more rounds of trumps.He then cashes ace and king of diamonds, queen of hearts and crosses to the ace of hearts .Finally, he cashes the remaining two hearts and the ace of spades.
iv.In six no-trumps, declarer takes the club lead and ducks a spade (lead the nine to avoid any embarrassing blockage later!).Assuming a club return, he cashes the remaining two clubs and two diamonds, then king and queen of hearts.If hearts do not break 3-2 or North does not have singleton jack or ten, he has to rely on spades breaking 2-2.
v.In my opinion, the simplest plausible auction suggested was:
|
WEST
|
EAST |
|
|
2
No-trumps
|
|
3
Spades*
|
3
No-trumps**
|
|
6
Hearts
|
6
No-trumps
|
(*3
hearts, playing transfers.** 3 spades,
playing transfers)
Opposite a balanced hand and with two aces for security, West decides that a small slam is playable in either of his major suits and gives East the choice.East calculates that, with his exceptionally strong minor suit holding and weak spades, that 6 no-trumps cannot be worse and may be better than six in either major.
vi.Tie
Breaker.Only two entries spotted
the seven clubs contract in Question i.Both
of these entries were very impressive.This
left me to judge the witty name for the problem.We
had the simple “Trump Reduction” from Richard Lonsdale of Didcot.This
well known expression for a technique in card play, played on the problem’s
preoccupation with the fact that the longer the trump suit was, the poorer
the contract, with no-trumps being the best contract of all and the only
grand slam being obtainable in a 4-2 trump fit.Harry
Freeman, of Wantage offered a quotation from Horace:“Vitae
summa brevis spem nos vetat incohare longam”, which (as we all know, don’t
we?) is Latin for “Life’s short span forbids us to enter on far-reaching
hopes”
My
thanks are due to Clive Keep for helping with the judging.I
declare the contest to be a draw.Harry
Freeman gets the bottle of wine and Richard Lonsdale (who said on his entry
that he did not feel that he would be able to face any more alcohol after
his millennium celebrations) gets a bridge tie from my extensive collection
of unwanted presents.
LOCAL
NEWSWessex
LeagueAbingdon A 6Menagerie
A 14,Abingdon A 2 Aylesbury A 18,Wallingford
B 7 Oxford A 13,Wallingford A 20
Oxford B 0,Wallingford A 15 University
A 5,Wallingford A 0 Wallingford
B 20, Blewbury 20 Wallingford C 0,Frilford
A 1 Oxford F 19, Alternative Club 0Menagerie
B 20,Frilford B 3 University B 17,
Wantage 1Thame C 19