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Guiding partner.

no flash slam!

Both defenders played a potentially wrong card on today’s deal but in each case, their partner was able to steer the defence back on course.

It was in a “bread and butter” part-score deal. In a Pairs tournament, accurate defence is vital as such a board carries equal weight to a slam board. Yet, even playing imps, it is far better to record +1 or 2 imps rather than the similar number minus.

Many South players got to play in 2, some even a level higher in an auction like the following:

 

1 showed 2+ clubs, which may well have put some East players off competing. Unless North/South were playing transfer responses to a 1 opener, South would end up as declarer in a heart-partial.

Your partner, West, led 7 with declarer calling for Q from dummy and your ace wins the trick, South contributing 8. Which card do you play to trick 2?

It’s one of those “anything might be right” situations and East decided to look for a diamond ruff by switching to the A. South played low and your partner played a rather discouraging 10 (low: like). What now?

“Do as you are told” or do not continue diamonds. So, East returned a low spade. At least they would not lose the post-mortem! Yet, look at West’s diamond holding!

 

South had done their best to hide the fact they held length in spades, just in case there was an immediate ruff to be had in that suit. There sure was!

The spade ruff was followed by K and then Q and it was the turn of East to tell their partner that they, East, knew what to do next. They ruffed West’s winner just in case West held a second trump. The ruff was at no cost to the defence.

Sure enough, West scored their other trump with a third round of spades. That was A, two high diamonds, a diamond ruff and two spade ruffs, and there was a certain K still to come, down 2 with both partners overruling an action made by their partner.

That might seem straightforward but on 11 occasions, West led either their spade or a high diamond (almost always the spade) and only on 4 of those times did the defence get the 7 tricks to which they were entitled. Indeed, twice South made their 2 contract.

Each defender had the opportunity of guiding their partner into the correct defence, by the negative signal (there was a much more urgent switch needed) and then by ruffing their partner’s winner. Tidy defence.

Richard Solomon  

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