BRIDGE

The situation on this deal may be unlike anything that most players have ever experienced. The bidding in an expert-level tournament was brief. North opened with a bid of one heart, East overcalled with two clubs, and South followed that with four spades whereupon the other players all passed. The opening leader held:

WEST

♠ 5 3 2

♡ 10 6 5

◇ Q 10 9 5 2

♣ J 7

His selection of the jack of clubs against the game contract was covered by dummy's queen, that hand being:

NORTH

♠ A

♡ A Q J 9 7 4 3

◇ 6

♣ Q 9 6 4

East won Trick One with the king and a second round of clubs with the ace, South following suit both times. So East persisted with the deuce of clubs at Trick Three, ruffed by the declarer with the jack of spades. The challenge for West: what to discard?

The defender accurately visualized that declarer's hand needed to contain at least three diamonds if there were to be hope of defeating the contract. (East had bid two clubs with a known five-card suit only so could not logically hold five diamonds as well). The danger was that South possessed a small singleton heart and if he next crossed to dummy with it to lead a diamond towards his hand, East upon winning his ace would try to promote a trump trick for the defence by persisting with clubs via creation of a potential overruff in that suit instead of returning a trump which could effectively prevent South from ruffing a diamond loser with dummy's lone ace of spades. West's diagnosis was precisely correct.

Declarer's hand:

SOUTH

♠ K Q J 10 9 8 6

♡ 2

◇ K J 3

♣ 8 3

The West defender knew that a trump promotion effort by the defence was doomed. But how to signal that information to East? He passed the word via the most explicit way possible. That is, he discarded a trump by deliberately under-ruffing Declarer's Jack of Spades at Trick Three.

Thereafter, the defenders could not be denied the setting trick in Diamonds upon completion of play. When the solitary low Diamond was produced as expected from North, East took the Ace and accurately switched to his lone Spade. The contract then inescapably was headed towards down one since Declarer retained a further losing card in Diamonds.

It was an inventive on-the-spot unique defence created by a brilliant human flair combining his own skills with trusted partnership teamwork.

Might the AI robots take over the game entirely from us mortals? Not unless they acquire the full breadth of our human imagination, not our intelligence alone.

Which, hopefully, is never.