Congratulations to Mary Johnston, who has reached the rank of Regional Master.
Board 8 (pictured) from last Monday presented East/West players with a bidding problem. With 16 points, West, with an Aceless hand, could do no better than open 1C; East with three Aces and no other high cards could not give partner an accurate description of East’s hand. 2NT would seem to be the best response. The result of this conundrum is that two of the six East/West pairs played in 3C, two in 5C, one (Who went to sleep?) in 2D and one in 4NT. Defending against a club contract, most Norths found the good lead of the ten of hearts. This posed no problems for declarer, although only Pat Kelly and John Nankervis made 12 tricks. Sandra Head was the only West player who looked for a slam in clubs. Unfortunately, she could not persuade me to join her in the search for a 12-trick contract and so signed off in 4NT. Had I known that South held the Ace of spades and was about to lead the five of hearts, I would gladly have bid 6NT. The heart King would have been a much better choice of lead. Dummy’s Jack won the first trick and then it was just a matter of playing winners in the right order: six clubs, four diamonds and the Ace of hearts to go with the Jack. Another quirk of this board is that not even the lead of a deceptive Queen of spades could have led to 3NT being defeated. With the spade suit blocked, South could make no more than three spades. On the lead of either the Queen or ten of spades, declarer has to rise with the King and hope for the best.
Results: Monday, 16/01/23 (6-table Mitchell): N. Collins M.Simpson (60.3) 1; R. Hart H. Price (56.7) 2; J. Nankervis P. Kelly (52.0) 3. E/W N. Bonnell S. Head (59.0) 1; C. Duggan L.Manson (55..7) 2; B. Reid J. McKeen (53.7) 3. Friday, 20/01/23 (6-table Mitchell): N/S N. Bonnell B. Bonnell (57.5) 1; T. Hinde J. Mobbs (57.1) 2; J. Nankervis J. Rose (55.8) 3. E/W N. Collins M. Simpson (61.1) 1; P.Kelly D. Moran (53.6) 2; M. Johnston N. McGinness (52.9) 3. Handicap: C. Hall D. Dawes 1st.
