Brilliant defence has always fascinated me, to the extent that I offer this commentary on defence, which comes from an article I wrote 20 years ago inspired by something I read in a very old copy of a well known New Zealand magazine, one I picked up in the local fish and chip shop. This is basically how the story went:
Dealer South NS Vul
| South | West | North | East |
|---|
1 | 1 | Pass | Pass |
|
| 1NT | Pass | 3NT | Pass |
|
| Pass | Pass | | |
That is how the bidding went, and West led the HQ, declarer winning and immediately playing a club to the nine. East ducked! An excellent play. Declarer returned to hand with a spade and led another club and West made a BAD error by playing the EIGHT. Declarer, expecting West to still hold the king and jack, realized that if this was the case the contract was doomed, so WENT UP WITH THE ACE and poor East suffered a great ignominy for his brilliant defence. West, of course, should follow to the second round of clubs with the JACK (a variation of the theme of ‘play the card you are known to hold’-V.G.) and declarer would no doubt have finessed and gone down. A good lesson on defence.
BUT, let’s have a look at a slightly different layout, a very minor change in swapping K and J of clubs in the EW hands but a very plausible layout.
Dealer South NS Vul
The bidding has been exactly the same, but this time it is even more likely that East has not bid. Notice the difference? The play is also the same. Declarer wins and leads a club to the nine. East DUCKS! Declarer returns to hand with the ace of spades and leads another club and West follows with the eight, as per the script. Declarer, still as per script, decides there is no chance unless East has been clever and held up a doubleton king, goes up with... The ACE! East’s JACK drops and this brilliant sacrifice of the jack has saved West’s king. Of course, the problem is that South has to be a brilliant declarer to even think about such things, but given that South is, or was, as the article suggests, this would have been a fitting scenario for East to win the Bols Brilliancy prize, if such a thing was still on offer. Or would it? Let’s take a look at another layout, once more just slightly different, swapping DKT between West and South .....
Dealer South NS Vul
This is quite a bit less likely. I’m sure I could come up with a more plausible one if I had to, but the principle is still the same. West leads the HQ as before and declarer plays a club to the nine which East brilliantly ducks. Declarer comes to hand and leads another club, West following with the eight. Noticing that the king and jack are still missing, declarer, who is counting his tricks, and who also doesn’t think the clubs are breaking, says: “oh well, may as well put in the queen since I need only two more tricks”. So, declarer puts in the queen and makes a total of TWELVE tricks. Ok, but East still deserves a medal for his brilliant defence, don’t you agree? BUT WAIT, there’s more, as the infomercials tell you.... Let’s have a look at yet another scenario this time swapping HA9 between West and South .....
Dealer South NS Vul
Once more the bidding is the same, and West’s LEAD is also the same, the queen of hearts. That is a standard lead from such a holding, you will agree. Declarer sees that he has no chance of making the contract unless West has both the king and jack of clubs, and to duck the first trick would do no good whatsoever. So, declarer wins and plays a club to the nine. East, knowing his play will surely win the brilliancy prize, sacrifices the jack and ducks. Declarer comes to hand and leads another club. West plays low and declarer, taking a good look at West and seeing that it is the world’s No.1 player, and then at East and seeing that he is No.2, sees no hope for himself, since he himself is the world’s biggest bunny. So, he panics and puts in the QUEEN. Need I say any more? But YES, there IS EVEN MORE..
Dealer South NS Vul
Now let’s take a final look at how things might have actually turned out if West’s and East’s play to the first two clubs were as an ordinary declarer sitting South might have expected them to be when the seven is led and West follows with the eight. Take a look and tell me if this is a reasonable set up. West leads the queen of hearts. Declarer wins and leads a club to the nine. A spade to the ace is followed by a second club, West following with the eight. Having had such great success with the first finesse, declarer finesses again, giving no thought to how clever or otherwise the defenders might have been. The finesse wins again and, as expected, East shows out and produces a spade. Declarer next leads a diamond and ducks. A second heart is won by the ace and declarer now cashes the diamond ace and two spades, and throws West in with a heart. Take your hearts, he says, and West does just that. But West has to concede the last two tricks to dummy’s AQ of clubs. Now don’t try and tell me that this is a difficult play for a declarer to find, given that both defenders followed ‘honestly’.
984
AQT964