Moscow-Pullman Daily News – 11 Abr 1994
Do you have a particularly close rapport with someone? Does each of you always know what the other is thinking? Can you have conversations without saying anything? In my experience, twins are particularly adept at this. And arguably the best bridge-playing twins were Englishmen Bob and Jim Sharpies. They had an almost uncanny knack for avoiding bidding misunder-standings. And their card-play wasn’t bad either. Bob played today’s deal many moons ago.
The auction is typical of the point-and-shoot style used before bidding became “scientific.” Still, one wonders why West didn’t sacrifice in four spades at the prevailing vulnerability. West led the spade jack: three, queen, ace. Declarer played a diamond to dummy’s jack and East’s ace. Back came the heart king. Sharpies had to bring in the clubs. And finessing through West looked normal But from his unblock of the spade queen at trick one, East must have begun with only one or two spades. This meant he had made a risky take-out double. To compensate for the spade shortage, East had to have full high-card values. So declarer placed him with the club queen. After winning with dummy’s heart ace, declarer called for dummy’s club jack. East played low, but Sharpies played low, also The successful backward finesse raked in five club tricks and the contract (with one or two overtricks —the report doesn’t specify). East’s short-spade double isn’t recommended. Nowadays most experts would overcall one heart, getting safely into the auction and indicating a good lead.