July 2020 - 60

Special Contributors

Bridge with the Abbot
BY DAVID BIRD

Brother Aelred's miracle
The Abbot was feeling somewhat
under the weather. Not exactly ill, but
in need of some sort of pick-me-up to
restore his spirits. As if by magic, his
prayers were answered. Brother Aelred
and Brother Michael arrived at the
table.
The Abbot sorted his cards for the
first board of the round:
Dlr: South ♠ 4
Vul: None ♥ 10 7 5 4 3
♦AK76
♣872
♠ 10 9 6
♠KQJ85
♥KQ986
♥-
♦Q2
♦ J 10 5 3
♣J43
♣ Q 10 9 6
♠A732
♥AJ2
♦984
♣AK5
West
The
Abbot

North
East
Bro.
Bro.
Michael Xavier

Pass
Pass
Dbl

2♦
2♠
3♦
Pass
All Pass

South
Bro.
Aelred
1NT
Pass
4♥

The Abbot led the ♠10 and down
went the dummy.
"Only 7 points?" exclaimed Brother
Aelred. "I thought we played that a new
suit after a transfer was game forcing."
"Yes, but I didn't want to let them
play in 2♠ when I had a singleton
there," Brother Michael replied. "I'm
entitled to borrow a king in the passout
seat, remember. Also, I wanted to

60 Bridge Bulletin July 2020

suggest a diamond lead if they bid on
to 3♠."
The Abbot had rarely heard such
inane waffling. No wonder good scores
tended to evade this pair. Anyway, had
Brother Aelred been struck by some
kind of paralysis? Was he ever going to
play the singleton spade from dummy?
Brother Aelred won the first trick
with the ♠A and ruffed a spade in
dummy. He returned to the ♣A and
ruffed another spade. Perhaps he
should cash the ♦A K next. Was that
a good idea? The Abbot had no spades
left and might discard a diamond when
a further spade ruff was taken.
The Abbot could barely believe his
eyes when Brother Aelred's next move
was to cash dummy's ♦A K. By what
quirk of fate was he playing like a normal human being, just at this particular moment?
A club to the king left these cards
still to be played:

♠-
♥KQ986
♦-
♣J

♠-
♥ 10 7 5
♦76
♣8

♠7
♥AJ2
♦9
♣5

♠KQ
♥-
♦ J 10
♣ Q 10

When the ♠7 was ruffed with the
♥8, Brother Aelred overruffed with
dummy's ♥10. The Abbot, sitting

West, knew how the cards lay at this
stage. If a diamond was played from
dummy now, his defense was clear-cut.
He would ruff Brother Xavier's diamond winner and cross to his partner's
♣Q. He would then be certain to score
two more trump tricks, for one down.
"What do you want next?" queried
Brother Michael.
"Oh, I don't know, play a club," said
Brother Aelred.
Brother Xavier won with the ♣Q
and returned the ♦J. The Abbot had to
ruff and, hoping for the best, returned
the ♥K. Brother Aelred stared at this
card for a few moments and eventually
worked out that it might be a good idea
to duck. Another round of trumps into
his ♥A J then gave him the doubled
game.
The Abbot gritted his teeth as he
returned his cards to the board. The
Good Lord moves in mysterious ways,
they say. Quite so. What could be
more mysterious than Brother Aelred
threading his way through the maze
to make 10 tricks against a 5-0 trump
break?
The Abbot had a nasty feeling that
a club opening lead would have taken
away an entry to the South hand and
beaten the contract. If Xavier thought
it appropriate to point this out, he
could look for a new partner next week.
Brother Michael had a smile on his
face as he entered the result on the
scoresheet. "I knew it was right to
compete with 3♦," he said. "That rule
about borrowing a king is a very good
one."
◾
July 2020

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