Bridge

How fashions change in this game! When I was young, South would have opened One No-trump and North would either have passed or converted to a peaceful Two Spades. Not nowadays, for aggression is to the fore. In the World Team Olympiad in Rhodes, a surprising number of North-South pairs reached an acrobatic Four Spades.

Perhaps the bidding went One Spade - Four Spades, but what does this contract depend on? Finding the queen of trumps and losing only one heart trick to begin with, but what about the clubs? There was a possible solution, but not all of the ambitious declarers found it.

At one table, with an unattractive choice of lead, West chose a harmless low heart. East won, and switched to a diamond. Declarer took this, drew trumps in two rounds, and cashed her remaining two red suit winners. Now all that remained to be done was to exit with a losing diamond.

Can you see the problem that this presented to the defenders? It did not matter who took this trick: the club position was exactly as South required, for the blockage in the suit meant that East-West could come to only one club trick before having to concede a ruff and discard.

Was it a good game? I make it that there was only a 2 to 3 per cent chance of success and, even that, only after a helpful start by the defence.

Perhaps I will have to update my approach.