The
history of sports and games is littered with examples of matches played at a
time of political unrest. A few have increased tension (e.g. the
The
Palestine Bridge Federation was founded in 1995. Five years
later it had about 100 members,
representing most of the main cities
of the West Bank and
The
powerful Israeli team were the favorites to win the match, but the outcome was
closer than anticipated. A low-scoring match ended 18—12 Victory Points in
favour of
The
bidding and play for this hand was the same at each table, but the hand has one
interesting question: Should East—West sacrifice in Seven Diamonds (despite
the unfavorable vulnerability)?
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Dealer
North |
ª |
K 9 3
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EW
Vulnerable |
© |
A
8 5 |
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¨ |
4
2 |
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§ |
K
Q 9 5 4 |
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N |
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ª |
8
7 6 5 4
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ª |
10 |
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© |
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W
E |
© |
7
6 2 |
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¨ |
K
8 6 5 3 |
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¨ |
A
Q J 10 9 7 |
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§ |
A
10 7 |
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§ |
8
6 2 |
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S |
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ª |
A
Q J 2 |
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© |
K
Q J 10 9 4 3 |
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¨ |
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§ |
J
3 |
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W |
N |
E |
S |
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1§ |
2¨ |
2© |
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5¨ |
NO |
NO |
6© |
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NO |
NO |
NO |
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Both
Wests led a diamond and both Souths had little trouble making
Six Hearts with a diamond ruff, three rounds of trumps, four
top spades, one club (after losing to
+A) and three more hearts. Six Hearts
scored 980 points.
The
strange thing was that Seven Diamonds went either three off
(on an unlikely club lead) or two off
on any other lead (if dummy's
fifth spade is cannily set up).
Assuming the contract was doubled, the
sacrifice would have cost either 8(X) points or 500 points.
As
Andrew Robson commented, after reviewing the hand in
The Times
(25 June 2001): You will probably
only rarely see an example of a profitable sacrifice of Seven over Six when you
are vulnerable and your opponents are not.'