Don’t waste time -- keep thinking!

Raymond Chandler once wrote, “Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you can find outside an advertising agency.” It is probably true that people who spend all of their time playing chess (and bridge) could make a more beneficial contribution to society at large by applying their minds elsewhere. Still, I doubt that Chandler objected to having his books advertised.

However, if you are going to play any game, you might as well spend that time concentrating on it to the exclusion of all else. So many contracts are easy to make or defeat if only the declarer or the defenders analyze the situation. For example, in today’s deal, South is in four spades. How should he plan the play after West leads the club queen?

North’s three spades was a limit raise. This was an accurate evaluation because of the eight losers and sterile 4-3-3-3 distribution.

Declarer, with no losers to ruff in the dummy, took the first trick and immediately ran the spade 10. East won with the queen and returned a club. Suddenly South stopped in his tracks. He had four losers: two spades, one diamond and one club. Eventually he played on and finished down one.

If only South had checked his losers at trick one, he could have foreseen that outcome. All he had to do was lead the diamond jack from his hand at trick two. He establishes a discard for his club loser, with the heart king in the dummy as an entry if East holds up his diamond ace for one round. Instead of down one, the contract makes in comfort.

When playing in a suit contract, count your losers at trick one.