The Washington Post - 17.02.2020

friday, february 21 , 2020. the washington post EZRE C5

BREWSTER ROCKIT: SPACE GUY! TIM RICKARD

CURTIS RAY BILLINGSLEY

SHERMAN’S LAGOON JIM TOOMEY

RED AND ROVER BRIAN BASSET

FRANK AND ERNEST TOM THAVES

RHYMES WITH ORANGE HILARY PRICE

LIO MARK TATULLI

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE CHRIS BROWNE

BLONDIE DEAN YOUNG & JOHN MARSHALL

MIKE DU JOUR MIKE LESTER

AGNES TONY COCHRAN

WUMO MIKAEL WULFF & ANDERS MORGENTHALER

MARK TRAIL JAMES ALLEN

MOTHER GOOSE & GRIMM MIKE PETERS

BALDO HECTOR CANTU & CARLOS CASTELLANOS

SALLY FORTH FRANCESCO MARCIULIANO & JIM KEEFE

CLASSIC PEANUTS CHARLES SCHULZ

CLASSIC DOONESBURY GARRY TRUDEAU PICKLES BRIAN CRANE

SUDOKU

NORTH

♠ A K 4

♥ 9 6 3

♦ A 9 8 6 5

♣ J 5

WEST

♠ 10 6 5 2

♥ K Q 2

♦ K 10 7 4

♣ 9 2

EAST

♠ 9 8 3

♥ J 10 8 4

♦ 3

♣ 10 8 7 4 3

SOUTH (D)

♠ Q J 7

♥ A 7 5

♦ Q J 2

♣ A K Q 6

The bidding:

A

t the Fall NABC, the

ACBL inaugurated the

Soloway Knockout Teams.

In a new format, two days

of short qualifying matches

left 32 teams to play full-day

matches.

The winners were Josef

BLASS (npc), Jacek Pszczola

(U.S.), Jacek Kalita and

Michal Nowosadzki (Poland),

and Bas Drijver and Sjoert

Brink (Switzerland). In the

final BLASS rallied past Nick

NICKELL-Ralph Katz, Robert

Levin-Steve Weinstein and

Jeff Meckstroth-Eric Rodwell,

123 to 102.

With four deals left, BLASS

led narrowly. In today’s deal,

Levin-Weinstein stopped

at 3NT as North-South.

Nowosadzki-Kalita got to

slam when both players took

bold views.

Rodwell, West, had to lead.

Against 6NT, an opening

leader often tries for safety;

an aggressive lead may blow

a crucial trick. Rodwell led

a spade, but South won in

dummy and led a diamond to

his queen. He took 12 tricks.

If West leads the king

of hearts, South fails, and

NICKELL wins 11 IMPs and

retakes the lead. They lost 11

instead, and the title went to

BLASS.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold:

♠ Q J 7 ♥ A 7 5

♦ Q J 2 ♣ A K Q 6

You open one club, your

partner responds one spade,

you jump to 2NT and he next

bids three hearts. What do

you say?

ANSWER: You should show

your support for partner’s

first suit — what he wants

to hear. Bid three spades. If

your values were a bit more

slammish — say you held K

J 7, A 7 5, A 3 2, A K 8 6 —

to jump to four spades to

emphasize the quality of your

support would be correct.

NEITHER SIDE VULNERABLE

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1 ♣ Pass 1 ♦ Pass

2 NT Pass 4 NT Pass

6 NT All Pass

Opening lead — Choose it

BRIDGE

©2020, TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.

— Frank Stewart

UPLOADED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws