BRIDGE

North-South vulnerable. South deals.
NORTH
x 8 6
u A K 6
v Q 9 7
w A 10 9 8 4
WEST EAST
x A Q 10 5 3 x J 9 2
u Q J 10 7 3 u 9 8 4 2
v 4 v 6 3 2
w J 5 w K Q 2
SOUTH
x K 7 4
u 5
v A K J 10 8 5
w 7 6 3
The bidding:
SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST
1v 1x 2w Pass
2v 2u 3u Pass
3NT 4u 5v Pass
Pass Pass
Opening lead: Queen of u
Geoffrey Mott-Smith was a man of many parts: chairman of the National Laws Commission; owner of one of the first bridge clubs in New York; author of more than two dozen books on bridge and other games; organizer of the annual Intercollegiate Bridge Tournament; etc. So versatile was he that many forgot he was one of the best bridge players of his day. Here he is at work in a duplicate pairs event.
Taking advantage of the vulnerability, East-West competed all the way up to four hearts. Five hearts would have been a good sacrifice, down only two tricks. Though East was extremely timid, neither, East nor West can be blamed for not going on, since it seemed that five diamonds was unlikely to make.
West led the queen of hearts, and declarer's problem was obvious. It seemed that sooner or later East would gain the lead in clubs and shoot the jack of spades through South's king for a one-trick set. Mott-Smith had other ideas.
At trick one declarer allowed West's queen of hearts to hold the first trick! West shifted to the jack of clubs, but it was too late -- South was in control. Declarer won with the ace on the table, cashed the ace and king of hearts for two club discards and ruffed a club high. The jack of diamonds was overtaken with the queen and another club was ruffed. The ace of diamonds was cashed, the eight was overtaken with the nine to draw the last trump, and the table's two long clubs took care of two of declarer's spades. South conceded a spade trick and claimed his contract.
XThis column is written by Tannah Hirsch and Omar Sharif. For information about Charles Goren's newsletter for bridge players, call (800) 788-1225 or write Goren Bridge Letter, P.O. Box 4410, Chicago, Ill. 60680.
& copy; 2006, Tribune Media Services