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Unfinished
Business from Bridge Magazine
Solution
to Problem 470 (by Andy Prothero)
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♠ KJ7
♥ Q10
♦ AKQ92
♣ J109 |
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♠ 10965
♥ J765
♦ J876
♣ 8 |
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♠ A4
♥ K98
♦ 10543
♣ AQ65 |
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♠ Q832
♥ A432
♦ none
♣ K7432 |
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South to make five
no-trumps. West leads the
♠10.
North must play the ♠K
at trick one, South dropping the ♠8!
East does best to win the trick. If East returns:
A.
the ♥K,
declarer wins and finesses the ♠7.
The ♣J
holds and a second club is covered by East's ♣Q
and South's ♣K,
West discarding a heart. A third club to North's ♣9
is allowed to hold.
1.
If West discards a heart, North cashes the ♥Q
and leads the ♠J
(optionally, after cashing two diamonds). East is caught in a seesaw squeeze:
a diamond discard allows North to retain the lead and throw West in on the
fourth diamond, this being the steeping-stone to South's ♠Q,
whereas a club/heart discard allows South to overtake, cash a club/heart
winner and throw East in with a heart/club, this being the stepping-stone to
North's ♦Q.
2.
If West discards a diamond, North cashes two diamonds, South discarding
hearts! West must drop the ♦J
(or be thrown in on it), whereupon North cashes the ♥Q
and leads the ♠J.
When East, perforce, discards a heart, South overtakes with the ♠Q
and throws East in with a club for a lead into North's diamond tenace.
B.
a spade, North wins with the ♠7
and clubs are played as in A.
1.
If West discards a heart, North must immediately lead the ♠J,
again catching East in a seesaw squeeze, but with a beautiful twist.
This time, If East discards a diamond, South must overtake! East is
thrown in with a club, simultaneously squeezing West in three suits.
East's return gives North an entry for the diamond winners, in addition to
which declarer makes a club and two more tricks in the major suits. If
East discards a heart on the ♠J,
North similarly makes the opposite play to that in line A, staying on lead in
order to cash two diamonds (South discarding clubs) and advance the ♥10.
If East ducks, West wins but the South hand is high. If East rises with
the ♥K,
South wins and three queens bring the trick tally to 11.
2.
If West discards a diamond, the play is similar to line A.2 but a little less
precise as South can discard a spade on one of the diamond winners and win the
third spade regardless of East's discard.
Result
of Problems 469
Difficulty rating: 8
Correct solutions to both problems were
received from M.V. Llewellyn(712), Scunthorpe;
J-M. Maréchal(807), Brussels; A. Prothero(385), Chester;
D.A. Smedley(1136), Derby; W.A. van der Zijden(1012),
Tiel (The Netherlands).
Result
of Problem 470
Difficulty rating: 7
Correct solutions were received from
R.H. Adey(706), Stafford; J-M. Maréchal(814), Brussels;
E. Pichler(38), Austria; D.A. Smedley(1143), Derby;
H. Vermeulen(111), Amsterdam;
D. de Lind van Wijngaarden(74), Delft (The Netherlands).
Annual Competition, 2000
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Name |
Master Points |
Star Points |
| A. Prothero, Chester |
69 |
9 |
| J-M. Maréchal,
Brussels |
62 |
5 |
| D.A. Smedley, Derby |
57 |
5 |
| L. Cass, Sheffield |
49 |
12 |
| W.A. v.d. Zijden, Tiel (The Netherlands) |
49 |
5 |
| R.H. Adey, Stafford |
49 |
2 |
| Dr. I. Budden, London |
43 |
2 |
| H. Vermeulen, Amsterdam |
43 |
2 |
| E. Paprotny, Neckartenzlingen (Germany) |
40 |
2 |
| M.V. Llewellyn, Scunthorpe |
38 |
2 |
| M. Hosoya, Vienna |
31 |
1 |
| J. Kelly, Walsall |
31 |
1 |
| E.A. Cherniavsky, Bethesda MD (U.S.A.) |
28 |
1 |
| D. de Lind van Wijngaarden, Delft |
25 |
1 |
| W.D. Clarke, Port of Spain (Trinidad) |
25 |
0 |
| A.F. Jaffrelot, Hornchurch |
20 |
0 |
| A.C. Currie, Largs (Ayrshire) |
14 |
1 |
| E. Pichler, Austria |
7 |
1 |
| V.M. Leite, Lisbon |
5 |
0 |
| M. Vickers, Tours (France) |
4 |
0 |
| Dr. M .E. Weber, West Wickham |
3 |
0 |
As the above league table shows,
Andy Prothero was top scorer in 2000. The best score obtained by a solver
who was unranked at the start of the year was 31 Master Points and 1 Star Point,
by Michio Hosoya.
©
Hugh Darwen, 2001
Date last modified: 09 November, 2014
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