When clearing out my loft recently I came across a tatty old notebook where I used to record interesting hands. Here are a few examples from over 40 years ago in the Knight Cup. This is now the Dorset county pairs championship, a one day event where it is a struggle to get more than eight tables. Back in the 1980s it was a different story; the local EBU county (Southern Counties) covered Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset, and the Knight Cup involved heats at local clubs and two semi-finals before a ten table final. Just reaching the final was no mean achievement.
In 1983 Graham Pearce and I qualified for the final for the first time. We were minnows amongst sharks but it was one of those rare days where we could do no wrong so I was hopeful of getting the half a green point that I needed to become a Regional Master. Back then there was no instant computer scoring or internet so you had to wait until the following evening and phone the scorer to find out the result. I remember him telling me that we had won by 'a considerable margin'.
This was an example of our good fortune from that Knight Cup final.
When Reese and Flint first developed the Multi 2♦ opening in the early seventies, it included strong 4441 hands as well as the usual weak twos in either major. If it was good enough for them it was good enough for us, so 3♣ showed 4441 with a singleton diamond and 18+ HCP. I had a little to spare but 4♥ was still a bit of a punt. West had read the textbook that told you to lead a trump after this sort of auction, but mistakenly chose to lead the nine of hearts. Graham won, cashed the top spades, ruffed a spade with the seven, then played a diamond to the ace and ruffed another spade with the eight. Meanwhile our friendly West discarded two clubs. When declarer led a club West took the ace and exited with a diamond, but now dummy was high so we made 12 tricks for a rather fortuitous top.
Strong 4441 hands are pretty rare and including them in a Multi has now gone out of fashion, but the system came up again in the Knight Cup semi final the following year.
On a club lead I won the ace, ruffed a club and led a heart to the queen and king. On a diamond return I was able to ruff two more clubs in hand and make 12 tricks when both major suits broke 3-2. In the final everything seemed to go well and we had another comfortable win. This hand helped.
In the 21st century I would make an immediate splinter bid 4♣ over 1♠, but back then we played it as some form of Swiss. It didn't matter as I was able to show my hand type on the next round. I should have redoubled 4♣ to show first round control, but we ended up in the right spot. The slam made with an overtrick for an outright top and helped us to keep hold of the cup.
