Clever play foiled

East’s four club bid, as a passed hand, was a lead-directing raise to four hearts. North felt that his hand, with good controls and a surprise fit in spades, warranted a slam try. The five-spade bid asked South to bid slam with a second round or better control in hearts. South did as he was asked, hating every minute of it.

West duly led a club and South had a small chance. He won with dummy’s ace perforce, led a diamond to his king, and ruffed a club. He cashed dummy’s ace of diamonds to discard his heart and then ruffed a diamond, setting up the suit. This was the position:

At this point South led a low spade toward the dummy. West, who was regretting not leading the ace of hearts, studied the dummy and remarkably played low, sacrificing his sure trump trick. This was the play to defeat the contract. Declarer now had to lose two tricks one way or the other. A truly fine defensive play!