BRIDGE

Fabian tactics

Andrew Robson

THE patient use of her trumps exhibited by East, Charlotte Blofeld, on this week's hand, is worthy of study. North, Sophie Kilpatrick, and South, Emma Matthews, had bid efficiently to 5*, and must have fancied their chances of making the game. But bad breaks and brilliant long-term thinking by East combined slowly to wreck the contract.

Dealer South North-South vulnerable A Q 6 4 V6 4

• J 108 2

4J 7 5

49 7 3

4 K J 108

Q J 10 9 8 3

• —

• 9 7

• Q 4 3

4 9 4

K 108 6 3 2

45

2

V A K 7

5 2

• A K 6 5

• A Q

South if 3* 5* West pass pass pass North 14 4* pass East pass pass pass

West, Shona Henderson, led MPQ and Charlotte made the first key play — she resisted the temptation to trump, instead discarding 42. Her trumps were far too valuable to waste trumping a low V from declarer. Had she trumped, declarer, Emma, would have breezed home by sim- ply winning her return and drawing trumps, scoring a 4, two Vs, four 'Os, two 14s and two Vs trumped in dummy.

Instead Emma was faced with a struggle. She won VK and followed the natural line of playing 42 to 40. Charlotte won 4K and correctly returned *3. Emma success- fully ran the lead to dummy's *10 and played 45 to 40, the finesse succeeding. She crossed to 4A and led V6. I hope you can see that Charlotte's best defence, unerringly found at the table, was to dis- card again. Emma won VA but now had no winning play. She led V2 and trumped it with *J. Charlotte overtrumped and returned her last trump. Emma could trump one of her two remaining Vs but not both and ended up one trick short.

The moral of the hand is an important technical point for the defence: it is rarely correct to trump one of declarer's losers, even with a seemingly worthless trump.