Bridge
3 April, 2026
Visualisation in defence
Defending well is difficult. The first requirement for success is to attempt to construct plausible holdings for the concealed hands. Try it on this deal …
Defending well is difficult. The first requirement for success is to attempt to construct plausible holdings for the concealed hands. Try it on this deal …
In first seat, partner opens 1♣ and your right-hand opponent makes a weak jump overcall of 2♠. You pass and left-hand opponent raises to 4♠, which is passed out. You lead ♣4 and see this dummy:
Declarer calls for the ace, partner following with ♣3 and declarer with ♣10. Now ♠Q is led. Partner rises with the ace and returns ♦️K. What will you do?
This is the point at which you need to stop and make a serious effort to work out what is going on. Partner did not try to cash ♣K either because he was reluctant to set up dummy's queen or because he has long clubs, with no expectation of being able to take a trick in that suit. Declarer presumably has 6 spades so partner should have 3 trumps. Why did partner so readily grab his ace of trumps? What is partner's diamond holding?
If partner has ♦️Kx doubleton then with your 6-card suit, you are only getting 2 diamond tricks anyway. But what if he has a singleton king? Then if you overtake, you will be able to cash another diamond and give him a ruff to defeat 4♠. However, if that is the position and you don't overtake, declarer might run away with his contract.
Indeed he would, because this was the full deal:
Partner found an excellent switch, but if you failed to overtake ♦️K, that would be the end of the defence. Declarer would draw trumps, discard his diamond losers on the hearts and finish with an overtrick!
Visualising what declarer and partner might hold, then exercising the imagination, makes it possible to find the most appropriate defence.
Rakesh Kumar
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