If time and money were no object, I’d be jetting off to Vienna in a couple of weeks, then flying to Biarritz, then spending a week in New Orleans, back in time to catch a flight to Warsaw… and that would only take me up to April. Most people probably aren’t aware how many international bridge tournaments take place throughout the year, all of them packed with serious competitors and famous names. In fact, the life of a top professional is one of non-stop travel – they barely spend a month at home before they have to fly off again. I wish I could get away more often, but, like most people, there’s only so much I can do: this year it’ll be Strasbourg for the Transnationals and Lillehammer for the Marit Sveaas Pairs. But next year I definitely want to go to the Reykjavik Bridge Festival. Several friends have just returned, and all said it was wonderful. Congratulations to Andrew Black (‘Bertie’), whose team flew the flag for England and came out victorious. On this deal, Bertie executed an impressive criss-cross squeeze to bring home a slam:
West led a sneaky ◆J against 6♣. Bertie won with the ◆A, ruffed a diamond and finessed the ♣10. East won with his singleton ♣Q and returned a diamond. Bertie ruffed, crossed to dummy’s ♣A and finessed the ♥J. He then cashed a trump, discarding a spade. This was the end-position: S ♠J75 ♥AK ♣2, N ♠AK ♥1098 ◆Q, E ♠Q109 ♥Q73. On the play of the ♣2, Bertie threw dummy’s ◆Q, and when East stopped to think, Bertie knew he had him. East eventually discarded a spade, so Bertie cashed the ♠AK, felling East’s ♠Q, crossed to the ♥A, and the ♠J was his 12th trick. Had East discarded a heart, he would have cashed the ♥AK, crossed to dummy’s ♠A, and the ♥10 would have been a winner.
Susanna Gross
Bridge | 4 February 2023

issue 04 February 2023
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