Place yourself in the south seat and plan your play to take 12 tricks on what appears at first to be a easy hand to play, for with a normal trump break of 3-2, declarer can count 4 trump tricks in hand, 1 already ruffed in dummy, 3 top diamonds and 3 top spades making 11, with another club ruff in dummy to reach 12 tricks and the finalization of the little slam.
But as in life, there are challenges that need to be met and overcome. Here the first precaution that every declarer would think of is - what if trumps are 4-1? Then how can the declarer get that 12th trick is the vital question that needs to be resolved. Even with a 4-1 adverse trump break, as you must have realized, the contract is makeable if the diamond and spade breaks are favorably placed. But here lies the real snag. What if these suits are not evenly breaking either, making communication between the 2 hands difficult? You can foresee the snag that will arise for you see a diamond cannot be ruffed in hand which could be suicidal with declarer's trumps reduced to 3 as well as dummy's trumps already reduced to the same number. Now an opponent holding 4 trumps can bash the declarer out of control. It is high time to give you the WE hands, if you have not touched upon the right line of play as well as the bidding that took place with both opponents silent.
The west east hands were as under:
Well, as declarer did you go for the trumps? Yes, OK, KH to which all follow and on JH east discards 5C. Now what should you do? Well let us see if you have matched your play with that of the actual declarer Maurizio Sementa in the 1978 World Championship for if you have, you should be proud for the play presented by Maurizio won the 1978 prize for best play hand.
This is how he proceeded. Maurizio continued with the QH on which east now discarded 6S. This put the clear inference in Maurizio's mind that despite south's lead of spades, east was not willing to part with a diamond which was a clear pointer that east was retaining protection in diamond. See how on that inference, declarer worked out a fool proof plan of making the little slam. He next led the 2S to the QS leaving the following position of the 4 hands:
Declarer now drew the last trump with AH, discarding what? Yes - the AS from the dummy - a key play that squeezed east who could now neither afford to release a spade nor a diamond. So hoping per force that his partner has the JC, he parted with his QC. Next when the declarer led the good JC, east was kaput! Whether he now discarded a spade or a diamond, south was in control to take all the remaining tricks by a super duper play indeed!
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North South
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A 2 K Q 8 7 4
K Q J 4 A 6 3 2
A K Q 10 6 3 4
3 J 7 6
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West East
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3 J 10 9 6 5
10 9 8 7 5
7 2 J 9 8 5
A K 9 8 5 2 Q 10 5
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North West East South
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A - J 10 K 8 7 4
- 10 - A
A K Q 10 6 3 7 2 J 9 8 5 4
9 8 5 2 Q J
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S W N E
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1S P 2D P
2H P 4NT P
5D P 6H All Pass
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