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English 54 Brian Zietman Israel Seniors championships semi- fi nal; Scoring: IMPs. We played the very fi rst board against a very experienced pair. They got to the excellent contract of 7 ♠ . My partner (South) led a safe trump. This is the full hand. ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 932 542 Q93 Q953 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ T74 K6 AKT75 T84 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ AKQJ6 AQT93 6 A6 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 86 J87 J842 KJ72 Can you possibly see a way to go down? I guess not. There are 5 spade tricks, 5 heart tricks (no Jxxx in the South or North hand), 2 diamonds and a club = 13 tricks. No problem – next hand – except… Only three pairs got to 7 ♠ . Each one scored 11 IMPs. 16 pairs were in 6 ♠ +1, still scoring +2 IMPs. 4 pairs were in 4 ♠ +3 for minus 10 IMPs. Amazingly, we gained 14 IMP’s for one down! After the spade lead, East played the ♠ AK followed by a heart to the K and a heart to the A. Now he ruffed a small Heart with dummy’s ♠ T and claimed, stating that he will discard his losing club on the high diamonds. What he omitted was: “I draw the last trump!” This means that he could theoretically, assuming that his hand is high, play his winning hearts before a high trump. I would then be in a position to ruff the heart with my remaining ♠ 9. “Tournament Director”! Swift ruling: down one! If there was no mention of drawing trumps, then a heart could be ruffed. To their great credit, the opponents did not make a murmur of protest, but accepted the ruling. Below we quote from the relevant laws on Claims and Concessions. (Laws 68 and 70): Law 68 C. Clari fi cation Required for Claim A claim should be accompanied at once by a clear statement as to the order in which cards will be played, of the line of play or defense through which the claimer proposes to win the tricks claimed. D. Play Ceases After any claim or concession, play ceases (but see Law 70D3). If the claim or concession is agreed, Law 69 applies; if it is doubted by any player (dummy included), the Director must be summoned Claim!