I usually resolve to feature only one squeeze per week in my column, but Bobby Levin’s efforts in a losing cause in the 2025 Spingold have persuaded me to break my rule.
In the other room, Geir Helgemo played slam on a low heart lead. He eventually played a diamond to the queen and went down gracefully. Levin stood more of a chance here, where East had doubled a diamond cue bid for the lead. He rose with the ace on West’s diamond lead, and then took four rounds of trumps, discarding a club and a heart from dummy. A club to the queen went to East’s ace, and back came a club to South’s king.
A further trump forced East to reduce to five cards as dummy shed its final club. East had to keep the sole club guard as well as the guarded diamond king lest declarer make a winner out of dummy’s queen with a ruff. So, he had to reduce to two hearts. Now Levin could cross to the heart ace and lead the diamond queen, forcing a cover. This transferred the diamond menace to West, who had sole possession of both red suits. The final trump put his hand through the mincer.
For the interested, Levin’s maneuver is considered a compound transfer squeeze.
In the other semifinal, Vince Demuy (for the other losing semifinalist team), as East in a similar position, ducked the club queen and subsequently bared his diamond king. Declarer, who had not been guided by a double in the auction, took the diamond finesse at the finish to end one down. This was worth a slam swing to Demuy’s team.