Competition Problem #1

composed by

 Hugh Darwen and DeepFinesse, 2000
improved by Vincent Labbé, 2008

DR8	♠ K654 ♥ 65 ♦ A95432 ♣ A
♠ AJ87 ♥ KQJ7 ♦ K ♣ J1097		♠ 10 ♥ 43 ♦ 10876 ♣ 865432
	♠ Q932 ♥ A10982 ♦ QJ ♣ KQ

South to make three spades. West leads the ♣ J.

To send me your solution, click here.

I think this is possibly the most difficult problem I have ever composed, though I have to admit that the idea was mostly DeepFinesse's!  It started life as a random deal in which I found some interesting points in DF's analysis.  If you send me a correct solution you will certainly be awarded the maximum 8 DD Master Points (and therefore 2 Star Points).  I assume that solutions are arrived at without the aid of computer programs like DeepFinesse.

Vincent Labbé's improvement was in the spade suit.  In the previous version East had the singleton ♠J opposite West's ♠A1098.

Successful solvers of 2000 version (8 DD master points each): Andy Prothero, Michael Palitsch, Leslie Cass, Jean-Marc Bihl, Ahmet Rifat Şahin, Bircan Öztürk, Sebastian Nowacki ...

... and of 2008 version:  

♥ Hugh Darwen, 2001

Date last modified: 19 October, 2008