Bridge

THIS fine piece of declarer play comes from the match between Sweden and Iceland at the 50th European Championships.

The Icelandic East-West reached 3NT, where, on a diamond lead, declarer made 11 tricks by establishing clubs, then squeezing South in the majors.

The Swedish strong club auction reached the more difficult 4S contract after a natural 2D overcall. North led the three of clubs, an obvious singleton. Declarer won the ace, then crossed to the ace of spades to lead a second club towards dummy. It is not generally a good idea to ruff a loser, so North discarded a diamond and the king won.

Declarer ruffed a club with the jack of spades, then played his third trump to dummy's king and ruffed another club with the seven. When North could not overruff he crossed to dummy with a diamond in this situation, where he had made the first seven tricks:

Declarer led a winning club from dummy. South could ruff, and draw the last trump, but then had to lead a heart away from his king. It would not help him to refuse to ruff either club, because then he would be endplayed with dummy's last trump. Iceland won 16-14.