C8
BRIDGE
N-S VULNERABLE
NORTH (D)
93 AK852 QJ984 A
WEST
J84 76 K106 KQ632
EAST
5 QJ1043 732 10987
SOUTH
AKQ10762 9 A5 J54
The bidding:
NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST
1 5 6
Pass 4 NT Pass Pass 5 NT Pass Pass 7
Opening Lead— K
N
ikolay Demirev produced the best
defensive play of the ACBL Fall Championships, and perhaps of 2009. Demirev wasWest, trying to beat a slam South reached with carefree bidding. Demirev led the king of
clubs and may have been sorry when dummy hit with the singleton ace and two trumps. South took the top hearts to pitch a diamond, came to his ace of dia- monds, ruffed a club and ruffed a diamond. South then ruffed his
last club and was left with the problem of returning to his hand to draw trumps. He could have ruffed a dia- mond safely, but it didn’t look that way: On the sec- ond diamond, Demirev had played the king! So South tried to get
back by ruffing a heart, and Demirev overruffed. Down one.
Good defenders often
choose a trump open- ing lead against a grand slam. Here, that lead surely would have worked by stopping a club ruff in dummy. Credit Demirev for not only finding a fine false card but for maintain- ing his focus after he didn’t find the best lead.
DAILY QUESTION
You hold: 93 AK852 QJ984 A Your partner opens one
spade, you respond two hearts and he raises to three hearts. What do you say?
ANSWER: A suitable mini-
mum for partner such as AK862,QJ4,A5,65 4 will offer a good play for six hearts, so you should make one effort to get there. Cue-bid four clubs. If partner signs off at four hearts, you’ll pass, but if he cue-bids four diamonds in return, you can try again
with a cue bid of five clubs.
— Frank Stewart
© 2010, TRIBUNE MEDIA SYNDICATE
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