bridge

There were a variety of auctions in this hand from the 1973 Lederer Memorial. Twice South tried Six Hearts, which had no hope. Twice East- West sacrificed in Five Spades at a cost of 500 points. At the other tables, South was allowed to play in Five Hearts.

The king of spades was the natural lead and, when East played low, declarer had a textbook play: he ruffed the spade continuation, drew trumps, ruffed dummy's last spade, and eliminated clubs. Then he finessed the nine of diamonds to end-play West.

One East foresaw this ending and overtook his partner's king of spades to switch to a low diamond. The nine lost to the 10 and West had a safe spade exit. Declarer had the last word, however, when he ruffed and played off his remaining trumps and three clubs ending in dummy. At the end, West was left with the choice of parting with his queen of spades or unguarding his king of diamonds, and declarer got the ending right.

This year's Lederer Memorial will include most of our top players, including the current Junior World Champions. It will be held on 28-29 October at the Young Chelsea Bridge Club, 32 Berkston Gardens, London SW5. Admission: pounds 10 season or pounds 5 per session (2pm and 8pm Saturday, 1pm Sunday).

N-S game; dealer South

North

410 6 4

!Q 10 9 5

#7 6 3

2A K 7

West East

4K Q J 7 3 4A 9 8 2

!6 2 !4

#K 10 8 #J 5 4 2

26 4 2 2J 9 8 3

South

45

!A K J 8 7 3

#A Q 9

2Q 10 5