October 2018 - 65

Special Contributors

Bridge with the Abbot
BY DAVID BIRD

The Parrot in control
The St. Titus team was competing
in the Winchester Swiss event and
was currently in the lead after winning their first three matches. In the
last match before the tea interval, they
faced a young team who had driven
from London in search of much-coveted green points. The Abbot had the
same priorities. Despite becoming a
grandmaster several years before, he
still felt obliged to enter any local event
that attracted national green points.
"Ah, the famous Parrot!" exclaimed
James Tythe, who was an accountant
in London's Square Mile. "I recognize
you from the photo in Bridge Magazine. What on earth are you doing here?
Your Bermuda Bowl team came from
somewhere in Africa, didn't they?"
The Abbot cleared his throat, hoping that the opponents would realize
that he, too, had been part of the Upper
Bhumpopo team. Surely doing so well
in the world's top tournament entitled
him to some recognition?

➤ George's World continued
later took the finesse into Eddie's jack.
At the time, we were in first place and
they were in third. This cost us the Reisinger and they won it. Luckily, I was
doing the vugraph and got to report
this in bloody detail. Eddie is in the
Hall of Fame and all I got was this lousy
T-shirt. My psychiatrist says that I
should relegate this to the fourth tier of
regret as Claude occupies the top three.
Ciao.
◾

"Just visiting," replied the Parrot.
"AWFUL photo in Bridge Magazine!
Made me look ancient."
"Who cares about the photo?" said
Roger Kitchen. "It was all the great
plays you made that amazed us. Do you
remember that five hearts doubled
against USA2, where you ..."
"Shall we start?" said the Abbot stiffly. Goodness me, anyone would think
the Parrot had achieved their Bermuda
Bowl success all on his own.
With deft moves of his beak, the Parrot sorted his cards for the first deal:
Dlr: East
Vul: Both

♠Q4
♥64
♦ A Q J 10 9 5
♣A54
♠ 10 8
♠AKJ97
♥Q93
♥ J 10
♦84
♦762
♣ K 10 9 7 3 2
♣QJ8
♠6532
♥AK8752
♦K3
♣6
West North
James The
Tythe Abbot
Pass
Pass

3♦
4♥

East
Roger
Kitchen
1♠
Pass
All Pass

South
The
Parrot
2♥
3♥

The Parrot arrived in 4♥ and James
Tythe led the ♠10. His partner overtook with the jack and switched to the
jack of trumps.
The Parrot rocked backwards and
forwards as he made his plan for the

contract. As he saw it, this was a valuable aid to concentration. If trumps
broke 3-2, he could see plenty of tricks
in the red suits. The only problem was
to retain control of the spade suit.
What should he do?
The Parrot won the trump switch
and played another spade to the queen
and East's king. When another trump
was returned, the Parrot won in his
hand and turned to the diamond suit.
Everyone followed to the first two
rounds, and he ditched one spade on
the third round. West ruffed with the
trump queen but then had no spade to
play. The Parrot won the club switch
and disposed of his last spade on a diamond. The contract had been made.
Roger Kitchen sighed as he returned
his cards to the board. "A trump lead
is better, isn't it?" he said. "If declarer
ducks the first trick, three rounds of
spades will promote a second trump
trick for us."
James Tythe nodded his agreement.
"Even a club lead is good enough," he
said. "If declarer plays a spade, we
win and return a diamond. He ducks
another spade and we play a second
diamond. Nothing he can do."
It would go down on a diamond
lead, too, thought the Parrot, not that
he would point this out after their
previous kind words in his direction.
"Flat board, flat board!" he exclaimed,
beckoning with his right claw for the
Abbot to put the next board in position.
"Everyone would lead a spade from
your hand."
◾
October 2018 Bridge Bulletin

65
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2018
