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Bridge
 South
opened somewhat light and soon arrived in Four Spades. How would you
play this contract when West leads the queen of diamonds? You have
three certain losers in hearts and clubs. If you lose a diamond trick
too, you will go down. How can you avoid a diamond loser? Only by
discarding a diamond on dummy’s clubs. You need to lead twice
towards dummy’s clubs, hoping that West holds the ace. Win the
diamond lead with the ace and lead a club towards dummy immediately.
When dummy’s king of clubs wins, draw three rounds of trumps with
the king, queen and ace. You can then lead a second round of clubs
towards dummy’s queen. If West rises with the club ace, you will
have a discard available for your diamond loser (the king of diamonds
will serve as an entry). If instead West plays low on the second of
clubs, you will not lose a club trick. You will lose a diamond
instead, along with two hearts, still making the game. It is essential
to play a club at Trick 2. If you play a trump, either the ace or a
low trump, you will not have the entries to lead twice towards dummy’s
clubs.
Answer
 You should bid 2S, to
show your excellent spade suit. Since you have a double available, and
possibly also an Unusual 2NT, to show hearts and clubs, there is no
reason at all why 2S should not be played as natural. It would be a
mistake to double, of course, since partner might then bid to a high
level in hearts. AWARDS: 2S-10, Pass-7, 3S-5, Double-2.
David Bird
— Knight Features
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