Bridge - The Scotsman 11/07/13

IT is a sad fact that very few Scots played in the European Open Championships in Ostend. This event gives a unique opportunity for any player to compete against the best in the world

. Our Senior Team for the World Championships in Bali played in the Teams, and Willie Coyle played in the Mixed events with Kitty Teltscher. Although we were few it seemed inevitable that our paths would cross.

David Liggat had been reading The Rodwell Files, a great book by one of the world’s all-time finest players. He played nicely on a defender’s ignorance on this deal. Willie opened a weak 2S, and East overcalled 3H. West naturally bid 3NT, as did the rest of the field. Willie led the ten of spades to dummy’s king. It looks natural to cross to a club to run the ten of hearts, but David reckoned that Willie, normally a sound bidder, needed to hold the ace of hearts to make up his opening bid. He led a small heart from dummy towards his ten. It is almost impossible for South to realise that she should play the queen, so Kitty played small. Willie did his best by ducking his ace, but to no avail. David led the nine of hearts and Willie ducked again. The one thing that was virtually certain was that North did not have the queen of hearts, so David rose with the king, felling the queen. Now he could knock out the ace of hearts for 12 tricks and a 99 per cent score.