NEC CUP The rankings after 8 rounds: (1) GREAT BRITAIN 139 (2) CHINESE TAIPEI 138 (3) Poland-USA 135 (4) ICELAND 134 (5) INDONESIA 123 (5) JAPAN-YAMADA 123 (5) JAPAN-HISATOMI 123 (8) JAPAN-WOMEN 119 (9) CHINA 112 (9) USA 112 (11) JAPAN-NEC 91 (12) JAPAN-YOUTH 87 Is it close enough for you, dear reader? On a day filled with upsets, four teams have left themselves in a strong position going into the final three matches. With three teams tied for fifth, however, any serious loss by one of the top four figures to cost them some peace of mind. Japan's WOMEN are having a very good tournament, rarely losing by a wide margin and recording some impressive wins. Apart from NEC and YOUTH, the field has been tightly bunched throughout. Both China and USA were hoping to do much better, but they are still not completely out of it. It will, however, take a remarkable parlay for either of them to scratch the final four. If you have not yet registered for the FOREIGN MINISTER'S CUP PAIRS on Saturday (qualifying) and Sunday (finals and consolation), please come to ROOM 212 at the PACIFICO or in the foyer near ROOM 401/402 to register. Thursday's semifinals and Friday's final and third place playoff in the NEC CUP will be shown on VUGRAPH, which will be held in ROOM 314 of the PACIFICO. Y'all come.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A LEAD MAKES Many North/South pairs reached a heart game on Board 23 of the second session of the NEC CUP. Bd: II-23 North Dlr: South 8 Vul: Both KJ87432 A83 32 West East J93 1062 - A10965 654 KQ10 AJ108764 K5 South AKQ754 Q J972 Q9 To provide a (perhaps) strained reference point, when your editors played this hand South opened 1 and ``Senior'' preempted with 3 (undoubtedly influenced by ``Junior's'' constant pleas to be more aggressive). North made a negative double (!?) and ``Junior'' passed. South bid 3 and North bid 4. While ``Junior'' contemplated a ``gangsta'' double for a brief moment, visions of an unbeatable 4 slapped him back to reality. When his pass was followed by two more from South and West, his fingers moved fleetingly past the K before landing on the K. When that held the first trick, ``Junior'' cashed his A (``Senior'' pitching the 9, showing an odd number) and then continued with his second club. ``Senior'' won the ace and played back a third club (that's why we pay him the Big Bucks), ruffed by North with the 7 and overruffed by ``Junior'' with the nine. North won the K return and pitched his two diamond losers on the spades. ``Junior'' eventually scored another trump trick for down two, plus 200. When Paul Hackett held the North hand the West player at his table failed to act over 1, so Paul found his way unimpeded to 4. With nothing in the bidding to guide him East led the K, at which point something amazing happened - five defensive tricks became only three! Watch the magic. North wins the A and plays three rounds of spades, pitching his two clubs. A club is ruffed in the closed hand and a heart led toward dummy's queen. If East ducks this, North now ruffs dummy's second club and plays a diamond toward dummy. East wins and plays the third diamond, won by dummy's jack. Declarer is now down to KJ87, while East holds A1096. Declarer plays a card from dummy and ruffs low, and East has no answer. If he overruffs with the nine or ten, he must then concede two of the last three tricks to declarer, while if he ducks North must still score one of this two remaining top honors. Either way declarer is plus 620. Can East prevail if he wins the A when declarer leads a trump toward dummy's queen (at trick six)? He must then exit with either a club or a diamond. If he exits with a club, declarer is in the same position as before (he simply ruffs and leads a diamond toward dummy's jack), so East must exit in diamonds. The K followed by the 10 leaves declarer in dummy, at which point he ruffs dummy's second club. We are then at the same critical position as in the original line, with declarer on lead rather than dummy. He now simply exits with a low heart and East is in the same fix as on all of the other lines. The moral of this story is, of course, that aggressive actions have many ways to win. This is just one of the more subtle ones.

DUMMY (DUMMY) by Walter Schafer, Jr. (U.S.A.) Dlr: South North Vul: None QJ3 A7 J8752 732 South 754 KQJ109642 AK - WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Partner You 1 3 (1) Dbl. (2) 3 4 5 Pass Pass 5 (3) Pass 5 Dbl. Redbl. All Pass (1) Solid minor looking for 3NT (2) A, K or Q of hearts (3) Lead-directing Try this excellent declarer play problem. It arose in a small sectional team tournament in Chicago. If you're having trouble, try it as a double-dummy problem. This key hand occurred near the end of a seven-board Swiss match. The opponents were very good U.S. players, each having won a U.S. National Championship. If you make your contract you'll win the match and the event. If not . . . I sat South and my 5 bid was lead-directing, in case the opponents bid on to 6. I was afraid that contract might make if an opening heart lead was ruffed. In 5 redoubled you receive the A lead. There are two inferences that you can draw from the bidding which matter to the play. Your contract is unbeatable. How? [The complete deal, for those of you who wish to check your single-dummy answer (and those of you waving a white flag and who want to try it double-dummy), appears here - Eds.]

EENIE, MEENY, MINEY . . . UHH, MOE! Round Four of the NEC CUP found JAPAN YOUTH, with their inspirational leaders hard at work in the Daily Bulletin dungeon, facing the dread GREAT BRITAIN team. Board 19 was one of the few bright spots for the ``YUTHs.'' Bd: IV-19 North Dlr: South 1098 Vul: E/W Q1082 KQ3 KQ10 West East QJ7 AK6432 AK763 4 9652 A107 A 932 South 5 J95 J84 J87654 Kazuo Furuta (East) and Masaaki Takayama (West) bid to the nice contract of 6, against which South (John Armstrong) led a club. Kazuo won the ace, perforce, cashed dummy's AK and Q, and then returned to his hand with the A to ruff a club with dummy's 7. A heart ruff was followed by a ruff of his last club with dummy's J, and now Kazuo had to decide how to return to his hand to draw the two outstanding trumps. He tried a fourth heart, but when Paul Hackett (North) followed, he pitched his last diamond. Unfortunately, South also pitched a diamond. Hackett now played another diamond. From the fall of North's club honors, it looked like South started with six clubs. He had exactly three hearts, and so far had shown up with two diamonds. So had South started with three diamonds and one spade or two diamonds and two spades? Kazuo consulted the ceiling, rocked back and forth in his chair, and appealed to Unmei for a hint of his destiny. Finally he ruffed low, and when Armstrong followed with a diamond the slam was home free. Well done, Kazuo!

ALERT! Decks of cards with the above logo are available for 300 Yen each, two for 150 Yen, three for 75 Yen - oh, hell, we'll pay anyone who'll take them off our hands.

Dlr: South North Vul: None QJ3 A7 J8752 732 West East 96 AK1082 5 83 63 Q1094 AKQJ10985 64 South 754 KQJ109642 AK - DUMMY, DUMMY by Walter Schafer, Jr. The complete deal is shown at the left. Cover the solution (below) if you wish to try it as a double- dummy problem. Solution: The first inference that can be drawn from the auction is that LHO has at least eight clubs for his 5 bid. The second inference is that the AK are offside because of the 3 bid and double of 5 . To make the contract, ruff the opening lead. Then play K, A and ruff another club. Then draw four more trumps to reach the end position shown in the diagram below. North QJ3 - J8 - South 754 - AK - If RHO keeps three spades and two diamonds, you cash the AK and lead a spade to the queen end-playing RHO. If RHO keeps two spades and three diamonds, duck a spade and claim. Notice that not ruffing a second club or cashing even one diamond is fatal for declarer. A final note. The declarer at the other table, also in 5 doubled, missed the winning line (on the same opening lead) and finished down one.

``Darn if I know where these extra 3 IMPs came from.''