RARE ONE-SUIT SQUEEZE

The bidding was over in just two rounds and South brilliantly brought home the contract without difficulty. It may appear as if 6NT has two certain losers,  but watch how the play unfolded.

The opening lead was the ©9. Placing the unseen cards perfectly, declarer won in hand with the ©A. He recognized that the ©K would have a crucial role to play later on. South then cashed four rounds of clubs and two diamond tricks to bring this position, with the lead in dummy.

North- ª63 -- ©K6 ¨AQ§--- East-ª95 --©QJ ¨76§---- 

South -ªAQ8©54 ¨2 §-- West - ª KJ102 ©87♦ -- §----

When declarer cashed the ♦A, West gave up a heart, South then took dummy's ©K and ♦Q, and West found himself the victim of the rare one-suit squeeze. If he released his ª2, he would be vulnerable to a routine throw-in. Consequently he let go the ª10 in the dubious hope that South would misread the position.

Declarer made no such error.  East made a valiant attempt by covering dummy’s spade lead with the ª9, but South inserted the ªQ, losing to West’s ªK.  Trick 12 comprised the ª8 and the game!

Six NT would fail if the declarer makes the fatal error of winning the opening heart lead with the ©K.

Blog          : http://www.hemadeora.blogspot.in

Twitter ID    : @HemaDeora