Recently, at the end of a gruelling bridge tournament, I must have been deliriously tired, because as I was thinking about how hard it is to focus on every aspect of the game, a nursery song popped into my head: ‘Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, Heads, shoulders, knees and toes…’ Actually, I don’t think it was as mad as all that. I’d been momentarily transported back to childhood because my struggle to focus simultaneously on each bid, lead and card, had reminded me of being a toddler trying to coordinate different parts of my body all at once.
Back in June, I was watching the Polish Premier League online – always a very tough event – when I saw this contract declared by Michal Kwiecien. It’s a perfect example of the importance of co-ordination:
West led the ♦️3. East won with the ♦️A and returned the ♦️4. West won with the ♦️J and exited with a low spade. Michał played the ♠️8 from dummy. East put in the ♠️J, and Michal ruffed in hand and played a trump. West won with the ♥️A and exited with the ♥️J, East following with the ♥️7 and ♥️10. After winning the ♥️K in dummy, Michal cashed the ace-king of spades, and played the last spade, East discarding a diamond and he ruffed with the ♥️Q. What now? Michal had put every clue together. East had three spades to the jack. He must also have the ace-queen of diamonds, as he had won the first diamond with the ♦️A, and West had won his return with the ♦️J. Had West held ♦️KQJ he’d have led high. If East also held the ♣️K , he would surely have bid 4♠️ after 4♥️. So it was obvious to Michal to enter dummy with a trump, play the ♣️10, and when East followed low, play the ♣️A, felling West’s ♣️K.
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