B_NOV_20

in each round and taking overall first place by a considerable margin. Here is a sample hand from the second round: Board 16. Dealer West. Vul E/W JT8 AJT7 K6 A863 9752 A6 82 KQ964 AJ83 972 K74 T92 KQ43 53 QT54 QJ5 West North East South Lavi Zeitak Pass 1♣ 1 ♥ Dbl Pass Pass Pass Passing out a negative double at the one level is highly uncommon, but Moshe Lavi (North) decided to try it in view of the fact that only his opponents were vulnerable. Aviv Zeitak (South) led a trump according to general principles (it was not a particularly good lead in the actual layout). East took North’s heart ten with his king and continued with the spade ace, had he continued with another spade, planning to shorten his trumps, he might have made one heart doubled. Instead, declarer switched to diamonds. A deep finesse to the ♦ 8 was taken by North’s king. North took a trick with the spade jack before continuing diamonds to his partner’s queen and dummy’s ace. At this point ruffing a spade was good for declarer, but he tried to cash the diamond jack. North ruffed and led another spade, ruffed by East. Now declarer tried ♣9 from his hand – jack, king, ace. In the next club trick declarer guessed wrong to put up the ten. As a result, North won the next trick with his club eight and exited with his last club. At trick twelve declarer was forced to lead away from his heart king. When the smoke cleared, North/South had gathered eight tricks for an absolute top score of +500. Sometimes defending at the one level is a lot of fun! 46 ירחון ההתאגדות הישראלית לברידג'