New Zealand Listener – August 24, 2019

AUGUST 24 2019 LISTENER 61

BRIDGE by David Bird

TAKE 5

by Simon Shuker

BARDEN’S

CHESS PROBLEMS

Wordsworth

Submissions: wordsworth@listener.

co.nz or Wordsworth, NZ Listener,

Private Bag 92512, Wellesley St,

Auckland 1141. Please include your

address. Entries may be edited for

sense or space reasons.

The tradition of devising humorous

collective nouns is an ancient one, with an

extensive list featuring in the Book of St

Albans, a Middle Ages hunting and fishing

almanac. This week, readers were asked to

submit some new collective nouns.

Dorothy White, Auckland: an ascension

of astronauts.

Kaye Bennetts, Whangaparāoa: a brace

of dental technicians.

John Mills, Gebbies Valley: a purse of

numismatists.

Paul Kelly, Palmerston North: a tenet of

palindromes.

Yvonne Moosberger, Hamilton: a

sacrilege of well-done eye fillets.

Barry Grant, Christchurch: a fuss of

aunties.

David Wort, Bay of Plenty: a grey area of

accountants.

Eileen van Trigt, Greytown: a revelation

of nudists.

Graeme Ramsay, Auckland: a regert of

tattoos.

Keith Davidson, Blenheim: a retention

of analysts.

Poppy Sinclair, Karori: a panic of

shareholders.

David Elworthy, Blenheim: a gallimaufry

of agendas.

Don Neale, Hokitika: a coalition of coal

miners.

Ann Love, Nelson: a flight of Arabian

carpets.

Helen Esslemont, Petone: a grumble of

farmers.

Anne Martin, Helensville: a twangle of

banjo players.

Janice Sutton, Ōrewa: a reminiscence of

retirees.

Ricky Feutz, Tauranga: a tampering of

Australian cricketers.

Anne-Marie Penfold, Auckland: a clot of

phlebotomists.

It was a difficult decision this week, but

Nozz Fletcher of Waikawa is the winner

with: a cumulus of vapers.

For the next contest, send us a very

short story of up to 60 words, including

at any point this phrase from Margaret

Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale: “Are there

any questions?” Entries, for the prize

below, close at noon on Thursday,

August 29.

by Gabe Atkinson

West North East South

1S Dble Pass 3H
Pass 4H All Pass

How would you respond to a take-out double
on those South cards? Since South held six
cards in the other major, along with 7 high-
card points and a singleton diamond, he was
entirely correct to respond 3H. A single-jump
response in a major suggests around 8-10
points. In a minor suit, where the target is
usually 3NT, you might hold as many as 11
points for a single-jump response. West led
the ace and king of spades against the heart

game and continued with a third round, to

kill dummy’s jack. East ruffed and declarer

overruffed. How would you have played

the contract from this point? Declarer drew

trumps in two rounds and cashed the ace

and king of diamonds, throwing a club. He

then ruffed a diamond, eliminating that suit.

A third round of trumps returned the lead

to dummy. In the four-card ending, both

dummy and declarer held one trump and

three clubs and the scene was set for an end-

play. Declarer led a low club from dummy

and inserted the 9 from his hand. (He could

guess from West’s opening bid that he held

the king of clubs.) West won with the jack

and then had two losing alternatives. He

could return a club from the king, allowing

declarer to run this to the queen, or he could

give a ruff-and-discard. Ten tricks to declarer

either way.

BIDDING QUIZ

WEST West North East South

♠ Q 9 3 — — 1S Pass

♥ A K 9 7 2 2H Pass 2S Pass

♦ Q J 6?

♣ A J

What will you say now on the West cards?

(Answer on page 62.)

EAST

♠

♥

♦

♣

WEST
♠
♥
♦
♣

A K 9 6 5 3

2

10 9 6

K J 4

SOUTH

♠

♥

♦

♣

NORTH

♠

♥

♦

♣

7 4

9 3

Q J 7 4 3 2

10 7 5

J 10 2

A Q J 8

A K 8

A 6 2

Q 8

K 10 7 6 5 4

5

Q 9 8 3

WIN THIS

Language expert Max Cryer’s dictionary

sheds light on Kiwi slang, speech

patterns, word origins and Māori phrases.

Dmitrij Kollars v Bilgin Osmanodja,

Ströbeck, 2015.

Ströbeck is a small but chessically famous

German village where at one time almost

every inhabitant was a keen player. Its

tradition continues, and today’s puzzle is

from the 2015 German junior international

championship. The result looks in the

balance, with White’s

knight and two

extra pawns taking

on Black’s rook.

Appearances are

deceptive. Can you

find Black’s winning

move?

(Answer on page 62.)