At any big international bridge tournament, the chances are you’ll end up playing a star name or two. And while it’s always a privilege, I find it hard to stop my inner voice whispering how incomparably better they are than me; I’m just a sitting duck. I have a mantra, however, which helps: ‘Anyone is beatable.’ So I couldn’t help laughing when I read an interview with the German champion Sabine Auken recently, in which she revealed she has a rather different mantra: ‘Anyone can beat me.’
We’re both right – there’s no place for fear or hubris at the bridge table. Sabine, though, is an unusually tough opponent. She has won countless medals, plays on the German open team with her partner, Roy Welland, and in 2013, became the first woman ever to win the European open pairs. This deal helped seal her and Roy’s victory:
(* shortage) South led a diamond. Sabine cashed the ♦️KQJ, unblocked the ♠️Q, came to hand with the ♣️Q and cashed the ♦️A. North, knowing a heart or club discard would give her an extra trick, threw a spade. No good: three rounds of spades later, North had to discard on the ♠️10. Dummy was down to ♣️AK8 and the bare ♥️J. North chose to throw the ♥️K, whereupon Sabine crossed to the ♣️A, came back to the ♣️10 and exited with a heart. South, to spare North from having to win with the ♥️Q and play a club to dummy’s ♣️K, went for a ‘crocodile coup’: he hopped up with the ♥️A. But Sabine still made 12 tricks when he then had to concede the ♥️6 to her ♥️7!
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