Bridge - The Scotsman 03/02/2012
THOSE who greedily look for extra undertricks in doubled contracts sometimes shoot themselves in the foot, as on this deal from the SBU Winter Congress. South stretched his jump 2NT rebid, and North’s 3C (Checkback Stayman) gave East the chance to double for a club lead. The seven of clubs ran to the jack and East switched to an ominous seven of diamonds. South rose with the ace, played a heart to the queen and, in desperation, a low club from dummy. East took the queen, and, with no possible further entry, cashed the ace. Now she switched to the ten of hearts, and South ducked. West might overtake and cash the ace of hearts for one down, but he hoped for better things and played the nine, expecting partner to revert to diamonds. Had she done so declarer would cash his eight winners for one down, but East learnedly studied the nine and concluded that it was a suit preference signal for spades. Her spade switch gave declarer an unexpected lifeline. He cashed four spades, ending in dummy, and the king of clubs, discarding his two remaining hearts. In the two-card ending North had a diamond and the five of hearts; South had K10 of diamonds, and West was squeezed in the red suits.
Chris Chambers got the same lead, but his East switched to the ten of hearts at trick two. He covered with the king, and later ran the eight, pinning the seven, to produce the same squeeze position.