November 2017 - 24

Dlr: West ♠ 10 8 7 3
Vul: None ♥ 9 7 6 4
♦83
♣976
♠QJ5
♠A92
♥ A K 10 8
♥Q
♦A
♦ K Q 10 9 5 4
♣ Q J 10 5 4
♣AK2
♠K64
♥J532
♦J762
♣83
Grue opened the West hand with
a Precision 1♣ (16 or more HCP).
Moss's 1♥ showed 12 or more HCP.
A series of relays brought them to the
grand slam in clubs.
Bessis, North, led a spade, taken in
dummy with the ace. Grue cashed the
♣A and played a diamond to his ace,
followed by the ♣Q and a club to dummy's king. He pitched the ♠J on the
♦K. When North showed out on the
third round of diamonds, Grue could
claim, planning to ruff out South's ♦J
and return to dummy with the ♥Q for
13 tricks and plus 1440. At the other
table, Combescure and Rombaut bid
up to 7NT. Pepsi found the only lead to
defeat the contract: a spade, eliminating a key link to dummy for a squeeze
against South.
On a non-spade lead, declarer can
cash winners to create this five-card
ending:

♠QJ
♥ 10
♦-
♣QJ

North
(immaterial)
♠A92
♥-
♦ Q 10
♣-
♠K6
♥J
♦J7
♣-

West plays one of his clubs, discarding a low spade from dummy. If South
discards a diamond, declarer can play
his last club, discarding dummy's other
low spade, and take the last three tricks
with the ♠A and ♦Q 10. If South discards his ♥J, declarer has a good club,
the ♥10 and ♠A for the final three

24 Bridge Bulletin November 2017

tricks. A spade
discard by South
gives declarer two
tricks in that suit to
go with the ♦Q.
On the spade
lead, 7NT had
no chance, and
Combescure was
soon conceding one
down.
With one set
to go, USA2 had
Joe Grue
surged into the lead
at 241-232.
In the match that ended with the
Americans on top by just 2 IMPs, the
French players had reason to regret
some of their decisions in the final set.
Although the line of play was reasonable, this one hurt:
Dlr: West ♠ Q 3
Vul: None ♥ J 3
♦ 10 6 2
♣ Q 10 8 6 5 3
♠ K 10 9 7 4
♠J8652
♥94
♥K
♦AQ873
♦J95
♣4
♣K972
♠A
♥ A Q 10 8 7 6 5 2
♦K4
♣AJ
West North
East
Moss Lorenzini Grue
1♠
Pass
3♠
4♠
Pass
Pass
All Pass

South
Quantin
Dbl
5♥

Moss led a spade and Quantin won
his singleton ace. At trick two, he
cashed the ♥A, getting the good news
that the king was singleton. That hurdle cleared, he still had to find a way
to avoid losing three tricks. He could
enter dummy with a heart to the jack,
pulling trumps in the process, and take
the club finesse, but Moss had opened
the bidding on his left, and RHO's 3♠
bid was ostensibly weak. After thinking it over, Quantin played the ♣A,
followed by the jack. Moss ruffed and
played the ♠K. Quantin ruffed, went
to dummy with a heart to the jack and

played a diamond, hoping that
Grue had the ace. Moss took his
two tricks for plus 50 and 11 IMPs
to USA2 because at the other
table, Martel was also in 5♥, but
Volcker's opening lead was his
singleton club - making 11 tricks
easy for Martel.
With two boards to play, the
score was 278-259 for USA2. The
penultimate board was a push,
so only an unusually large swing
could have saved the French team
... and that almost happened.
Here's the final deal:
Dlr: West ♠ 9 6 5
Vul: E-W ♥ K Q J 10
♦ 10 3 2
♣ 10 6 2
♠AJ43
♠ K Q 10 8 2
♥A2
♥9
♦KQJ9
♦A76
♣J95
♣AK87
♠7
♥876543
♦854
♣Q43
West
Moss
1NT
2NT
4♠
5♥
7♠

North
East
Lorenzini Grue
Pass
2♥
Pass
4♥
4NT
Pass
Pass
5NT
All Pass

South
Quantin
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

2♥ was a transfer to spades, and
2NT was a form of super-acceptance.
4♥ was a splinter (short hearts). In
response to 4NT, Moss showed two key
cards without the trump queen. 5NT
guaranteed all the key cards, so Moss
bid the grand. It was a long auction to
a no-play contract. Moss needed some
luck in clubs (singleton or doubleton
queen), but it wasn't there: one down,
minus 100.
At the other table, Volcker and Bessis
also had a long auction, but they settled
for the cold 6♠ for plus 1430.
Going plus at both tables gave the
French team a 17-IMP swing, which
brought the team close to victory ...
but not quite there. USA2 held on for a
278-276 win.
◾
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2017
