Today’s deal is from a recent competition in Europe. No pair, we are told, reached the excellent six club contract, and only one declarer was successful in a six no trump contract. That was Czech expert Anatol Filip, South in this deal. The auction is not known to us, so we offer the imperfect auction above.
Filip won the opening club lead and cashed all his clubs. He followed this with four rounds of hearts, leaving this position with West still to discard on the last heart:
What could West do? A spade discard and Filip would simply duck a spade. West shed a diamond, so Filip cashed the ace of diamonds and led a diamond to the king. He led the eight of spades and played low from his hand when East couldn’t cover. West won with the 10 but had to lead away from his king of spades and Filip made his contract. Very nice!
Published - January 04, 2024 12:23 pm IST
