High-level online bridge tournaments started almost as soon as lockdown began. It was going to take more than a worldwide pandemic to stop bridge players playing the game they love.

All the tournaments were good and attracted strong teams from all over the world, but the one that stood out for me was the World Bridge Tour, a very good mix of online and live, and organised magnificently by Norway’s Thomas Charlsen.

Keeping the dangerous hand out of play is not always possible, but we can sometimes make it too expensive for him to get in. The following very instructive hand cropped up in our live semi-final in Copenhagen, and was handled very nicely by my teammate David Bakhshi. West led the ♠4, David beating East’s Queen with his Ace.

Declarer needs to establish tricks in both red suits, but if East can win an early trick and shoot a Spade through he might be in trouble, whereas if West gets in early, Spades are protected.

It would appear he can’t do anything here as East has both red Aces, but he can – and he did. He went to dummy with a Club and played a Diamond through East. East had to duck, or Declarer would have had nine winners. David went back to dummy a second time in Clubs and this time led a Heart through East, who had the same dilemma, so South also scored the ♥J.

A recount now shows that South has eight clear winners, and all he has to do is knock out the Ace of Hearts to claim his contract. Making East catch thin air if he goes up with either Ace was the only way to make the contract.