Bridge

Bidding a grand slam when you have to start exploring at the Five level is, by definition, an imprecise affair, but North-South did remarkably well in both the bidding and play on this deal.

East dealt and opened Five Diamonds to put the cat among the pigeons. He did not deter South, who joined in with Five Spades to leave North with a problem. Would Six Clubs be taken as a suit or a cue-bid agreeing spades? Hoping for the best, he bid it anyhow and South tried Six Diamonds. That was enough for North: he bid Seven Spades, against which West led a trump.

At first sight the slam appeared to depend on a successful club finesse, but South took the precaution of getting a count on the East hand first. After winning the trump lead in dummy, he ruffed a diamond high, crossed to the table with a trump, and ruffed another diamond. Then he drew the remaining trump and cashed the three top hearts.

When East showed out on the third round, he was known to have started with no spades, two hearts, and at most seven diamonds. Hence he held at least four clubs, and the prospects of a successful finesse in the suit were poor.

South saw that it really did not matter who held the queen of clubs. He played off one more round of trumps to leave #J,7 2A,K in dummy and 2J,7,3 and the last trump in hand. East found himself looking for a discard from #A,K 2Q,9,8 and had to give up. If he unguarded 2Q, declarer would make three club tricks, while if he threw a diamond, South could cross to 2K and ruff a diamond to establish #J for his 13th trick. It was an elegant example of the so-called "trump squeeze".