An Impossible Slam

Sometimes, you have to play for an error.

I was playing the daily Celebrity Challenge on IntoBridge today when a seemingly impossible problem arose. The Celebrity Challenge is a free contest where you play with a robot (Lia) against two other robots and your score on five hands is compared with that of a different expert each day. In this case it was Milan Macura, coach of the Czech national youth team. This article is about board 2.

Sitting South, and playing Acol, I opened 1C, after East passed. My partner Lia bid 1D and East overcalled 1S showing 5+ spades.

A double by me now would be a takeout showing hearts and at least secondary diamond support so I passed. West passed and partner doubled showing at least 3 hearts and secondary club support. My 2H response promised 4 hearts (and hence 4+ clubs).

I was then somewhat taken aback when my partner bid 5NT! This is a conventional bid which means 'pick a slam'.

I considered all my options. I first ruled out 6NT because of my lack of diamond support. It seemed highly unlikely that partner's diamond suit was good enought to run by itself and playing in a suit might allow me to set it up by ruffing. Also, if partner was willing to play in any of the other suits she couldn't have many spades to let me set up two tricks by leading towards my King Jack. Playing in a suit, however, partner might be able to ruff spades.

In choosing between clubs and hearts I decided that if partner had 4 hearts they would have chosen to play in hearts since my bid guaranteed at least 4 hearts. They probably only had 3 hearts but almost certainly had 3 clubs and may have 4 so I bid 6 clubs. The extra trump length in my hand could well be necessary for ruffing diamonds.

Six clubs was passed out and West led the 6 of spades, East took their Ace and returned the 10. It’s highly probable that the Queen is with East but the extra trick isn’t helpful so I played the King of spades which held the trick. My problem was how to play the club suit for no losers.

It was quickly apparent that, missing the King, Jack nine, and eight, there was no distribution where I could take all the club tricks against the correct play, I had to play for an error. I realised that, if East held the Jack of clubs singleton or doubleton and I led my Queen, I could pick up the King with West as long as they did not cover. This seemed a possibility since leading the Queen without the Jack could lead to the loss of two club tricks so Lia would probably think that I held the Jack. Luckily, however, the competition format is effectively point a board. You win, draw or lose and it doesn't matter how much you win of lose by.

Without much hope of success I led the Queen of clubs towards the Ace. West did not cover so I took the winning finesse and the Ace dropped the King and Jack. An impossible slam was made!

Milan Macura, playing a different system, had the same bidding up to North's double of one spade which he elected to pass. It went three off for a score of 500 to Milan. This would be a winning strategy at this vulnerability if N/S could not make game. North's bidding up to this point had shown little evidence of their actual strength and I was strongly tempted to pass their takeout double but I thought that with my spade values well placed there was a possibility of game in hearts if partner had four hearts and was better than minimum.

For those that are interested, over the five hands I won two, lost two and drew one. Why don't you give it a go? You currently get 25 free hands a week so it need not cost you anything. You can contact me below if you need help with setting up Lia to play Acol or anything.