Olympiad Open by Ben Norton

A: ♠3. Partner won’t have anything of use, so you should strive to lead passively, the primary aim after an invitational sequence. The usual objection to leading from Ace-fourth, that it could give away a cheap trick, is not applicable. Rather, a Spade lead rates to be passive here, with partner having nothing much, and could well set up a length trick. A Club does not have this upside.

The alternatives of a Heart and a Diamond are both too dangerous, especially when you consider that West rates to have length in the minors, having not used Stayman.

A Diamond attack was disastrous on the layout, gifting declarer a quick trick, but you would still survive if you chose a low one. The ♦K would see declarer win and return the suit, setting up two more tricks with dummy’s ♦J9xx. A safe Spade would give him too much to do, likely beating the contract by two.

Your result so far:

A: ♦Q. This time, you should plump for an active defense. You know the Hearts are splitting well for declarer and West bid game directly rather than inviting, albeit as a passed hand.

A Diamond attack is your best bet to set up tricks, needing the least from partner. A Spade lead would require him to have length and strength there, and a Club would need even more.

The best card to lead is the ♦Q, to protect against declarer’s scoring a cheap trick with the 10. The unblocking consideration is of little import when you only hold four cards in the suit. If partner has a doubleton honor, you might not want to be attacking this suit anyway.

A Diamond lead was necessary to set the contract, setting up two tricks there when partner had ♦10xx, along with partner’s ♥AK and your ♠A.

Your result so far:

A: ♥A. Partner should have a reason for bidding 3♥. He can likely stand a Heart lead, and if he can’t, he probably has great length in the suit, then laying down the ♥A might not cost anyway.

Leading the ♥A might serve to allow you to cash two Heart tricks and switch, or to just give nothing away, or to get a look at dummy and find a necessary shift. Your realistic alternative is a passive trump, as a Diamond could easily give away a trick.

A Club or Heart lead was needed to set the hand. Partner had ♣Kx and could take a third-round ruff. If you lead the ♥A, dummy comes down with ♥KJx and when partner drops the ♥2, suit preference for Clubs when you can’t want a Heart continuation, you can ably shift to the ♣3.

Your result so far:

A: ♠Q. Partner presumably has a top Spade honor for his lead-directing double. It would therefore be needlessly risky to attack Clubs. Four Spade tricks and the ♣A will do. Having got this far, you might conclude that a low Spade is best, to unblock the suit in case partner has ♠Kx and declarer A9xx.

However, it could be right for partner to win and shift to a Club through declarer. You should thus lead the ♠Q, showing partner what you have in the suit. He will be able to place declarer with the King and defend accordingly.

A Spade lead and Club switch was needed to set the contract. A top class player chose to lead a low Spade, but this had the effect of misleading partner into thinking that the lead was from the ♠K and the suit was cashing. He returned a Spade and conceded the game.

Your result so far:

A: ♣8. No lead is particularly safe. Either red-suit Ace could find declarer with the guarded King, while a trump could blow your likely trick there. On the surface, it might appear that since you have this natural trump trick and can count three tricks of your own, it’s folly to lead your singleton in declarer’s side-suit, but that is a cursory analysis.

Holding five Clubs, declarer will probably finesse through partner anyway, it being the natural way to tackle the suit with, say, ♣K10x in dummy and ♣AJ9xx in declarer’s hand (he can cash the King and run the 10 to pick up Qxxx in partner’s hand while not losing to a singleton Queen in yours). In fact, a Club is your safest lead, and it could be necessary to take a ruff if dummy has a Spade holding such as ♠AJx.

A Club lead (or unlikely Diamond lead and Club shift) was the only one to guarantee setting the contract by reaching partner with a Diamond and scoring an eventual Club ruff. Dummy had ♠AKxxx, though, so declarer would be unlikely to pick the Spades anyway, unless you were to idly cover the ♠J!

Your result so far: