In this section I would be putting together all the information regarding bridge facilites in the various cities in India.The information may be sketchy at present but would be made comprehensive in future.
Lucknow Allahabad Varanasi Meerut Dehradun Ghaziabad Kanpur Moradabad Delhi Chandigarh Jaipur Mumbai Pune Asansol Durgapur Bangalore Chennai Ranchi
In this section I would cover tournaments happening in India and more so the tournaments happening in Northern part of India and in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
UP State Championship is taking place at Bareilly from Oct 29 -31, 1999.
All India Jagdish Agarwal memorial Oudh bridge championship is taking place at Oudh Gymkhana, Lucknow from Nov 11 -14, 1999.
In this section I would cover one good deal which appeared in the Weekly Bridge Tournaments at Lucknow or in a recent tournament with explanations.
This week's deal is on simple card play.
| Dealer:South Vul:Both Lead:  K | NORTH Q 3 J 10 28 6 4 3 9 8 7 5 | |
| WESTK 8 6 44A Q J 9A Q J 3 | EASTJ 10 5 2K 6 37 5 210 6 4 | |
| SOUTHA 9 7A Q 9 8 7 5K 10K 2 |
| South | West | North | East |
| 1 | X | Pass | 1 |
| 2 | 4 | Pass | Pass |
| Pass |
South deals and opens semi strong (16-18 HCP) one Diamond West doubles and East comes in with one Spade. South now bids 2 Heart which is at least 5 card suit and West jumps to 4 Spade which ends the auction. South leads Diamond King. How would you plan the play ?
Looking at dummy the lead could be from singleton or from doubleton. South has bid his heart suit and he could hold all the outstanding points except Heart Jack. The fact that he has not led a Club indicates that Club honour should be more or less with him only if Diamond King is doubleton. The distribution at this stage is not certain. South could hold six cards of Hearts or his Heart could be 5 card suit.
The declarer at this stage played a small trump from dummy towards Jack. North won with Queen and pushed Heart Jack and continued with Heart ten which was ruffed in dummy. Declarer now played a Spade which South won with Ace and made dummy ruff with the play of Heart Ace. Declarer now was short of an entry to remove the outstanding trump. He tried Diamond Ace and Queen but South ruffed to take the contract one down.
The key to proceed is whether South holds three card Spade suit or doubleton Spades. If South holds doubleton trumps the correct play is of small trump.
However, in the layout shown South holds three Spades and hence the right play after the lead of Diamond King is to win with Ace and continue with Diamond Queen and Jack. The fall of Diamond ten makes life easier. South at best can ruff the third Diamond and can play small Club. Win with Club ten and play of a Spade towards King clinches the contract as the second trump trick vanishes. If South refuses to ruff the Diamonds play all the Diamonds discarding a Heart from your cards and then play a Spade towards the Jack. Now even if Hearts are played by NS there is no threat of second Heart ruff in dummy which removes trumps. After a Heart is made to ruff in dummy you can continue playing trumps till South wins. If South ducks and plays a Heart then it can be ruffed with your trumps and the contract scores with Club finesse.
A small trump lead from South defeats the contract easily!