March 2020 - 64

Special Contributors

Bridge with the Abbot
BY DAVID BIRD

The Monsignor's departure
Monsignor Salerno's surveillance of
a St. Titus novices' duplicate session
was nearly at its end. His right hand
had grown weary with all the mistakes
that he had dutifully noted in his black
book. What a deplorable standard of
play! The blame for this lapse could be
laid in only one direction. The Abbot
bore overall responsibility for the
instruction of these young souls. When
the Monsignor returned to the Vatican
tomorrow, he would make this clear in
his final report.
The last board of the session saw
Brother Cameron at the table where
the Monsignor was watching. The
Italian was well aware of the novice's
reputation as a disrespectful maverick.
His black book lay open on a fresh page,
one that offered plenty of space to
record every departure from accepted
practice.
"You are in no hurry to play the final
board?" queried Monsignor Salerno.
"Such a slow rate of play I have seen
from you boys here. Back in Rome, we
instruct our novices to aim for at least
twelve boards an hour."
The novices nodded politely, reaching for their cards. Surely if you rushed
through the play you were more likely
to miss some instructive point?
"I have already made a note in my
book that here, the novices play a
session of only twenty-four boards,"
continued the Monsignor. "Playing at
a more sensible speed, our boys can

64 Bridge Bulletin March 2020

tackle thirty-six boards in the same
time. Think how much more they
learn!"
The players sorted their cards as
quickly as they could. All four were
praying for this deal to go smoothly, not
wishing to trigger any further outburst
from the Vatican's emissary.
Dlr: South ♠ J 9 4 2
Vul: None ♥ 5 4
♦J9763
♣86
♠ 10 8 5 3
♠7
♥93
♥876
♦ 10 2
♦KQ54
♣AK754
♣ Q J 10 9 2
♠AKQ6
♥ A K Q J 10 2
♦A8
♣3
West
North
East
Bro.
Bro.
Bro.
Stephen Damien Mark
Pass
2♦
Pass
2NT
Pass
4♠
All Pass

Pass
Pass
Pass

South
Bro.
Cameron
2♣
2♥
3♠
6♠

With 15 points lying in the other
players' hands, Brother Cameron did
not think twice about bidding a slam.
Surely his partner would provide a
useful card or two.
Brother Stephen was relieved to have

an obvious opening lead. He played
the ♣A, swiftly followed by the ♣K.
Brother Cameron could count four
trump tricks, six hearts, the ♦A and a
club ruff in his hand. That was a total
of 12. The only possible problem was
a 4-1 trump break. After ruffing this
trick with the ♠6 and cashing the three
top trumps in his hand, there would be
no easy entry to dummy to draw the last
trump. What could be done?
The novice soon spotted the best line
of play. He ruffed the second round of
clubs with the ace. He then continued
with the king and queen of trumps, not
minding in the least when East showed
out on the second round. After his high
ruff at trick one, the way was clear for a
finesse of dummy's ♠9. He then drew
the last trump with dummy's jack and
claimed the contract.
Brother Cameron turned to observe
the Monsignor's reaction to this accurate piece of dummy play. An empty
chair met his gaze. The Monsignor was
nowhere to be seen.
The three novices smiled at each
other. "He left as soon as you finessed
the ♠9," said Brother Stephen. "Even
he couldn't find anything to criticize on
a deal like that."
Brother Cameron laughed. "That was
lucky for you," he informed his colleague. "If you switch to any other suit
after cashing one club winner, I can't
make it. There's no way I can score the
club ruff that I need!"
◾
March 2020

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