Many thanks to Derek Gittins for

        the weekly quiz

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                  Quiz 17: 9 July

                        N
                 ♠ A 8 7 5 4
                 ♥ 4
                 ♦ A 4
                 ♣ A Q 10 5 4

                       S
                 ♠ K Q J 10 9 6
                 ♥ A 9 6
                 ♦ 9 6
                 ♣ 9 6

A tricky one last week see if you find this easier. This time South is in 6 Spades. West leads the ♥K and East follows with the ♥3. Can South make the contract against any distribution?     

      ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 

  Quiz  16  2 July
                N
             ♠ A K
            ♥ 7 6 5 4 3 2
            ♦ A J 10
            ♣ A 10

    W                    E
  ♠ Q J 10 9 8     ♠ -
  ♥  Q J 10 9 8    ♥  -
  ♦ 2                  ♦ Q 7 6 5 4 3
  ♣ Q J               ♣ 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

                S
           ♠ 7 6 5 4 3 2
          ♥  A K
          ♦  K 9 8
          ♣ K 2

This time South plays in 4 No Trumps and West leads ♦2. Can you lead South to success?e

Solution Quiz 16

The solution to this is quite ingenious and not easy to describe.  I hope it all makes sense

South plays ♦J from Dummy and ducks East’s ♦Q with the ♦8 in hand (key play).  East has now two choices – either lead a Club or lead a Diamond.

1. If East leads a Club.  South wins with ♣A in Dummy and returns to hand with ♣K.  South now leads ♦9 from hand and watches what major suit West discards from.  If it is a Heart, South throws his ♦10 (leaving his ♦A as an entry to Dummy’s Hearts) while if it is a spade then South overtakes ♦9 with his ♦A (leaving his ♦K as an entry to his Spades in hand).

South can now cash the Ace and King of West’s shorter major and cross back (to hand or to Dummy) with his recently promoted entry. He can now lead West’s shorter major for West to win.  West must now lead his other major which is taken by declarer who promptly plays the opponent’s shorter major again.  West takes the trick with his last card in that suit and has to return the lead to declarer who can now cash the last two cards in the major that he has at last promoted.

2. If East leads another Diamond.  This time South takes the trick with the ♦A and plays back to the ♦K.  East has to discard his two Clubs in order to protect his majors.  Now South can use the same strategy as before using his Clubs instead of Diamonds.  He leads the ♣2 from hand and (if West discards a Heart) he throws the ♣10 from Dummy leaving the ♣A as an entry.  However, if West discards a Spade, South overtakes the ♣2 with the ♣A in Dummy leaving the ♣K in hand as an entry.  The play then continues in the same manner as above.

Note:  There is no point in East ducking Dummy’s ♦J at the beginning because declarer will merely cash his ♦A and then his ♦K and continue as above giving declarer a free trick in the process.

South makes 2 Club tricks, 2 Diamond tricks and 6 tricks in the majors. 

   ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣