Reading Eagle – 28 Jul 1969 by Jay Becker
Dealer East N/S Vulnerable
Lead: 
9
For sheer artistry, its hard to beat this hand played by Jean Besse, of Switzerland, in a European bridge championship. West led his singleton club and, because of East’s opening preemptive bid, Besse’s first concern was a probable 4-1 trump division. In line with this, after winning the club, he led a low spade from dummy and went up with the Ace after East had produced the ten.
He then finessed the trump nine, East showing out. Besse next cashed the Q of diamonds. Had he found the suit divided 3-2, he would have made the slam by taking another trump finesse and winning either a heart or a club.
When East showed out on the second round of diamonds, the slam looked impossible to make. But Besse found a superb solution to his difficulties. At trick six he led a club towards dummy.
West could not afford to ruff, so he discarded a heart. After winning in dummy, Besse cashed the A-K of hearts and ruffed a heart in dummy to produce this position:
He continued with the six of clubs and discarded his diamond loser on East’s ten, thereby placing West in an impossible position.
If West discarded the Jack of dismonds, his apparently certain trump trick would disappear on the next play, regardless of which suit East returned; if West ruffed the ten of clubs, South would automatically win the last two tricks. So Besse made the slam as a result of the smother play.