The Schnapsen Log
Shifting Allegiances (solution)
Martin Tompa
“Let’s see how long it takes before the trump suit shifts its allegiance from you to me,” Hans challenges as he leads his ♦J. “I’m launching a forcing defense.”
Peter now has two choices. He can trump high and force Hans back in clubs, or he can trump low and try to pull trumps. Either way, as we will see, Hans has had the tremendous advantage of being first to force.
Let’s suppose that Peter trumps high to begin his own forcing defense. He will then be on lead from this position:
Peter: (38 points)
♠ —
♥ KJ
♣ AQ
♦ —Hans: (41 points)
♠ Q
♥ AQ
♣ K
♦ —
Peter can now play two rounds of clubs, but Hans will trump with ♥Q and force once more with his ♠Q, winning the last trick with ♥A.
If, instead, Peter trumps Hans’s ♦J low, Peter will be on lead from this position:
Peter: (30 points)
♠ —
♥ TK
♣ AQ
♦ —Hans: (41 points)
♠ Q
♥ AQ
♣ K
♦ —
Peter can now begin pulling trumps by leading ♥K, but it is too late, because he has already lost trump control. Hans will win and force Peter again by leading ♠Q. This is a tempo endplay, because Peter is on lead from this position:
Peter: (43 points)
♠ —
♥ —
♣ AQ
♦ —Hans: (56 points)
♠ —
♥ Q
♣ K
♦ —
No matter what Peter leads, Hans will win the last trick with his remaining trump.
Peter looks at Hans admiringly. “Even though I started out with more trumps than you did, your forcing defense stole control of trumps.”
“Yes,” Hans agrees. “It’s a big advantage in this situation to be on lead and the first one to force.”
© 2013 Martin Tompa. All rights reserved.
