Cherry, part 2

Hi all

Here’s some thoughtful power play by team Vishnevsky. They landed in a precariously high contract of 5 [3NT is unbeatable] and needed a soft(ish) spot in the defence to land on the head of a pin.

West
North
East
South
 
 
pass
1
2
Double
pass
4
pass
5
a.p.
 
North
AJT5
85
KJ83
Q83
South
K4
AK72
Q
AT7652

West led the Ace and continued for dummy’s King. The Queen of gets covered with the King and West shows out!

Now you have to disarm that J94 and take care of your remaining loser as well.

South analyzed correctly that crossing to the Ace to play a top wouldn’t work, I (East) would just discard a . Then on the trump switch I would rise with the Jack to transform my 9 into superman, because North is left entryless.

So South needed another entry to dummy, and found it by finessing against West’s Queen. Now he was able tackle the delicate trump position, for he had a second entry to dummy when he could overtake his King with dummy’s Ace.

East Dealer
NS Vul
North
AJT5
85
KJ83
Q83
West
Q92
QJ74
AT9754
East
8763
T63
62
KJ94
South
K4
AK92
Q
AT7652

So where’s the defensive soft spot? Geoff could have foiled declarer’s cunning plans by inserting the Queen, instead of following small. Denied the second entry to dummy South is unable to untangle the trump position.

1 thought on “Cherry, part 2”

  1. There is a second soft spot in the defense. The second diamond gives dummy also an unnecessary entry. Why not play a heart and let declarer do his own work ?

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