The
following is from The New
York Times
Bridge Book, by Alan Truscott and Dorothy Hayden Truscott
(New York: The
New York Times Company, 2002), pages 230-2, from a chapter
entitled
"Dorothy's Bridge Memories".
In 1966
there was a world pairs championship in Amsterdam, and Becker and
I had
qualified to represent the United States.
After innumerable sessions of qualifying we had made it to
the
four-session finals. We
finished third
and took home the bronze medal.
If I had
played half as well as my partner, we would have won the whole
thing. At the time I
did not realize that third
place was very good: Never before or since has a woman finished in
the top ten.
The winners
of the title, in a blanket finish, were two talented Dutchmen, Bob
Slavenburg
and Hans Kreijns. Slavenburg told me the following remarkable
story. He had, he
said, been playing on an earlier
occasion in a match between the Netherlands and France. He picked up
Spades:
6 2
Hearts:
9 5
Diamonds:
4 3
Clubs:
A Q J
7 6 5 2
With both
sides vulnerable, he had ventured a psychic overcall of one spade
when his
right-hand opponent opened one heart.
When this was doubled for penalties–before the days of
negative
doubles–he retreated to one no trump. He
intended to beat a second retreat into clubs after a further
double, but his
partner got in the way by bidding two spades. Slavenburg assumed
that this
indicated great length and strength in spades and stood his
ground.
The complete
deal was this:
North
Dealer: East
Spades:
8 5 4 3
Vulnerable: Both
Hearts:
7 6 3 2
Diamonds: 9
5 2
Clubs:
K 4
West
East
Spades:
A K Q
7
Spades:
J 10 9
Hearts:
K J
Hearts:
A Q 10 8 4
Diamonds:
K J 6
Diamonds: A
Q 10 8 7
Clubs:
10 9 8
3
Clubs:
–
South
Spades:
6 2
Hearts:
9 5
Diamonds: 4 3
Clubs:
A Q J 7 6 5 2
West
North
East
South
(Slavenburg)
1
Heart
1 Spade
Dbl.
Pass
Pass
1 N.T.
Dbl.
2
Spades
Dbl.
Pass
Pass
Pass
It is easy
to see that two spades doubled was not an ideal contract. The defenders could have
taken all the tricks
with something to spare, scoring 2,300.
That is, however, very little more than the value of the
grand slam that
they were entitled to in spades, hearts or diamonds. But something went wrong
with the defense.
A French
expert sitting West led the spade ace, and East dropped the jack. West continued with the
king, not stopping to
think that his partner must have the ten: A double of two spades
with a
singleton would be inconceivable.
East
should now have played the nine, making it clear that he held the
ten, but he
erred in his turn by playing the ten.
West continued by cashing the queen, completing the ruin of
the
defenders trumps.
A shift to a
red suit at this point would have enabled the defense to take 11
tricks for a
penalty of 1,700, but West's feet were still set firmly on the
road to disaster
and he led a club. Slavenburg
gratefully
won with dummy's king, drew the missing trump with the eight over
the seven,
and claimed his contract. Seven
club
tricks and one trump trick were enough for a score of 670.
In the replay the Dutch
East-West
played in six spades, making an overtrick, and felt guilty about
their failure
to bid seven. "Did
the French pair
reach the grand on Board 13?" they demanded urgently when the team
assembled at the end of the session.
"We made a game in
spades," reported Slavenburg modestly.
"That's a different
board," said his teammates impatiently.
"On Board 13 East-West are cold for seven spades."
"We made game in
spades,"
Slavenburg persisted, and it took half an hour to dissipate the
others'
incredulity.
Some have expressed
skepticism about
this, but if the story is fiction it indicates remarkable creative
imagination.