One characteristic of the top players is their ability to conjure up brilliant plays on the spur of the moment. Consider this deal from the Brazil-Turkey match at the 1980 World Team Olympiad. Hero of the hand was the Brazilian star Gabriel Chagas, who was East.

After West (Pedro Paulo Assumpcao) opened two clubs, showing a minimum opening bid with a strong club suit, the Turkish North-South pair reached four spades, against which Assumpcao led the heart ten.

South took the ace and, realizing he could not afford to draw trump before establishing his diamonds, led a low diamond at trick two. Assumpcao went up with the ace, on which Chagas smoothly played the king!

Declarer won West’s heart continuation with the queen and, confident he was now home free, drew the opposing trumps, on which West discarded two clubs, and then led the nine of diamonds and let it ride. One can only imagine his astonishment when Chagas produced the jack and returned a club, allowing West to score his remaining clubs for down three.

Had Chagas followed to the first diamond with the jack, as any ordinary mortal would have done, declarer would have had no trouble making the contract. But it must be pointed out that South should have smelled a rat.

If West really had the A-J-8 of diamonds, as South presumably thought, why had West not returned a diamond at trick three for East to ruff? A club to West’s ace would then have produced a second diamond ruff to set the contract.

Since West had not returned a diamond, there was certainly good reason to suspect that things were not what they seemed. However, even if South had worked out what was actually going on, this in no way should diminish the brilliance of Chagas’ king-of-diamonds play.

Tomorrow: Fair exchange is no robbery.

(c)2026 King Features Syndicate Inc.