The Four Seasons: Winter by Robert Darvas

0
126

Tuesday March 24, 2015

Robert Darvas
Robert Darvas

Robert Darvas was born in 1903 in Budapest and passed away prematurely in 1957, he was one of the best designers of double dummy problems, and many of his deals are true pillars of Bridge literature. The best of his works, first published in 1947 was Right Through the Pack. This brilliant fantasy features each card in the deck telling its own fascinating story. Darvas was Hungarian and he was famous for his extraordinary gift of discovering the unusual features of hands. The world of the Bridge also remembered for his maneuver called «Robert Coup«. (Source: www.infobridge.it)

Need to Read first:

Part I Spring  and Part II Summer and Autumm

Winter

Winter Snowless, merciless hard coldness. R. Darvas Invierno

South, Martin, dealt and bid one heart. North, Violet, answered two clubs. South two no trumps. North four no trumps. South five hearts (Blackwood). Violet closed the bidding with seven hearts.

After the spadeK start, the weak dummy was put down, and Martin nearly stumbled from his seat.

He cried indignantly: » With this rubbish shall I make a Grand Slam?»

«Please, don’t be afraid at once if there is some problem!»

» I am never afraid, and have the courage to tell, that your bidding was an abuse of the partner’s good faith.»

» Don’t overrate things. I have the feeling that the Grand is a make.»

» It is a dangerous type of woman who plays bridge with their feelings. Maybe they love with their brains.»

Violet answered nothing, later she stood up and with an » Excuse » went off. Martin immersed in the play. His first plan was to establish clubs by ruffing, but soon he saw that this play would supply, only twelve tricks at best. To combine club establishing with one diamond ruff would ruin dummy’s proper re-entries to the established clubs.

Then he realized that when diamanteQ109 were with West his own diamante8 would become high and he could discard two spades from dummy and ruff a spade. Following this line he became aware that there was a special distribution which would allow the fulfilling of the Grand.

Here you see the whole special hand:

R. Darvas Invierno full hand

In the given situation Martin did not try to find a solution which would mean an honest defeat. Martin followed his imagination about the single way of possible fulfilment.

On the first lead he took the attacking spade king with the ace.

(2) Diamond finesse, West giving the nine.

(3) diamanteA, the ten from West.

(4) heartK, West dropping the ten.

(5) heartK, dropping West’s queen.

(6) diamanteK West dropped the queen, North discarded spade.

(7) diamante8, spade discard from dummy.

(8) Spade-ruff in dummy.

(9) clubK

(10) heartJ

(11) heart9.

West held at this moment still the club J 10 and a good spade. He became squeezed.

Discarded his spade but Martin counted, cashed in the 12, trick his spade and fulfilled. The opponent cards had the single favourable distribution. The odds were about 500,000 against 1.

In his joy, Martin’s first intention was to be reconciled with Violet, even to apologise . . . As she wasn’t sitting opposite to him, he got up and looked for her everywhere. Finally in the cloakroom he got the information that Violet had taken her coat and departed.

And so Violet went away for ever …