The Knight Cup is the Dorset county pairs championship, a one day event where nowadays 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 a good result. 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'.
When clearing out my loft recently I discovered a tatty old notebook where I used to record interesting hands. This was an example of our good fortune from that Knight Cup final.
In those days we included strong 4441 hands in our Multi 2♦ opening, so 3♣ showed this type of hand with a singleton diamond. I had a little to spare but 4♥ was a bit of a punt. West had read the textbook that told you to lead a trump after this auction, but mistakenly chose to lead the nine of hearts. Graham won, cashed the top spades, ruffed a spade, then played a diamond to the ace and ruffed another spade. 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 into a Multi has now gone out of fashion, but a similar hand came up 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. This was a hand from the 1984 final.
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 the cup.
