March 2016 - 62

Special Contributors

Bridge with the Abbot
BY DAVID BIRD

The Abbot's careless defense
The Abbot's brother, Claude YorkeSmith, was visiting the monastery and
had insisted on partnering the Abbot in
a heat of the Charity Pairs. The session
was nearing its end when the Abbot
and his brother faced Lucius and Paulo.
"Always good to see you here,
Claude," said Brother Lucius, moving
into the South seat. "Will you be with
us for long?"
"Just a week or two," Claude YorkeSmith replied. "My wife said she
needed a bit of a rest."
"A rest?" queried Brother Lucius. "I'd
have thought that running the hotel by
herself would be quite a taxing business."
Yorke-Smith smiled to himself.
"Women are hard to fathom at the best
of times," he replied. "For some reason
she says it's more stressful when I'm
there to help her."
The players drew their cards for this
deal:
Dlr: South ♠ 9
Vul: None ♥ 8 7 5 4
♦QJ94
♣8632
♠ K Q J 10 5 4
♠82
♥9
♥ K J 10 6 2
♦8753
♦ 10 6 2
♣ 10 5
♣J74
♠A763
♥AQ3
♦AK
♣AKQ9

62 Bridge Bulletin March 2016

West North
Claude Bro.
Y-S
Paulo

East
The
Abbot

3♠
Pass
All Pass

Pass

South
Bro.
Lucius
2♣
3NT

The ♠K was led against 3NT and
Brother Lucius held up the ace on the
first round. When spades were continued, he threw a club from dummy and
won in his hand. Claude Yorke-Smith
was an adventurous bidder but surely
even he would not venture a 3♠ overcall on a five-card suit.
With no apparent entry to dummy,
Brother Lucius turned his mind towards an endplay on East. He played
four rounds of clubs, the defenders
discarding diamonds. The ♦A and ♦K
came next, leaving these cards still to
be played:

♠ J 10 5 4
♥9
♦-
♣-

♠-
♥8754
♦Q
♣-

♠76
♥AQ3
♦-
♣-

♠-
♥ K J 10 6 2
♦-
♣-

Brother Lucius had scored seven
tricks already. The ♥A was good for

an eighth trick, so he needed one more
for his game. West could be counted for
an original 6=1=4=2 shape and Lucius
now exited with the ♥Q, aiming to prevent West from winning the trick and
cashing four spade winners. The ♥9
duly appeared from West and dummy
followed with a low card.
The Abbot surveyed the scene with
no great enthusiasm. If he won with
the king, he would have to return the
♥J or ♥10 to prevent declarer running a low-card exit to the dummy. Unfortunately declarer would then be able
to win the heart honor with the ace and
lead his last heart to dummy's 8-7. Not
only would dummy subsequently score
a heart trick, the ♦Q would be brought
to life for an overtrick.
Although it pained him to do so, the
Abbot allowed the ♥Q to win. Declarer
had his ninth trick, but he would at
least be prevented from enjoying an
overtrick. Brother Lucius cashed the
♥A and returned his remaining cards
to the board, claiming nine tricks.
The Abbot could see that his brother
was trying to work out what had happened. "I had to duck the queen of
hearts," he informed him. "Declarer
makes an overtrick otherwise."
Claude Yorke-Smith peered at the
score sheet. "All the other declarers
went down," he exclaimed. "Why were
you the only East player who managed to get endplayed? It shouldn't be
beyond you to keep the right cards!" ◾

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2016