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English 45 Automatic Krzysztof Martens This chapter might be entitled: "Calf – Not a Chess Player." None Vulnerable, Teams West North East South 3 ♦ 4 ♣ Pass 4 ♦ Pass 5 ♣ Pass 6 ♣ All Pass ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ AKQ84 KQ753 A2 J ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 832 2 KQJ973 652 Lead ♦ 10. West wins with the ace and comes to his hand with the heart ace, then plays a spade to dummy. On the second round of spades, declarer discards a diamond. He next plays the king of hearts. I ruff and declarer overruffs and plays the trump ace. Now declarer cashes the club ace and partner begins to think… Here comes the full board: ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ J975 J109864 10 K9 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 10 A 8654 AQ108743 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ AKQ84 KQ753 A2 J ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 632 2 KQJ973 652 This is the fi nal position: ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ J9 J1096 - K9 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ - - 86 AQ10874 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ A84 Q75 2 J ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 6 - KQJ97 65 Partner discarded the club king on the ace, but unfortunately he has met his equal. West plays ♣ 8 and my partner must win the trick. I congratulate both players on the excellent duel. Of course, I had not noticed that I played like a calf. Declarer's shape, 1-1-4-7, was obvious not only from the couse of the bidding but also from his line of play. Partner must have a trump trick for us to stand a chance. If it is the ace my play is irrelevant; with the trump king, though, the defence requires more care to avoid the throw-in. I should have restrained myself from ruf fi ng the heart honour and instead discarded a spade. The fi nal position would have been somewhat different: ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ J9 J1096 - K9 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ - - 8 AQ108743 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ A84 Q75 2 J ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ - - KQJ97 652 This time I will ruff whichever top honour West chooses to play. When my partner gets in, he will now be able to lead the suit, in which dummy holds no top honours, and I get a diamond winner at trick 13. Krzysztof Martens published 12 books – high level bridge, You can fi nd all in website www.martensuniversity.com