Knowing Me, Knowing You by Foxymoron

 One of the most useful agreements you can have with your partner is how to play uncontested sequences like 1C-1S-2S-3C. It is vital that you both know whether this is forcing, and the guideline I use, for better or for worse, is that all ABBA sequences are forcing. A is the first suit bid and B is the second suit bid.

Another iconic ABBA line is "Breaking up is never easy". This is true both in relationships and bridge, and seeing a squeeze is one thing, breaking it up is another. Doug Dunn thought he should have found the winning defence against Ken Barnett but it was not easy,

Chantal did well to raise to 2H - an ace and a doubleton is enough for a simple raise even without the double - and Ken had an easy game bid. Harvey Fox, East, led the king of clubs for reverse attitude and guessed well to lead a low club at trick two. If West had held J5 of clubs, he should play the jack on the first round. Now West exited with the jack of diamonds, and Ken won with the ace as North and cashed the ace of hearts and the ten dropped from East. 

He cashed the king of hearts and the diamond winners and threw West in with a heart. West was worried that East had the K of spades with no ten, so did not want to broach the spade suit. He therefore exited with a diamond, but North ruffed and cashed two more rounds of hearts squeezing East in the black suits.  A spade return would have broken up the squeeze, and if North has QT doubleton of spades there is no defence. So West has to cater for the above layout when he can beat the contract. So a good recovery by North and worth 77% of the match points.

However, North missed a better line. After cashing the top heart, he should cash the second diamond and ruff the master diamond and now finesse the jack of hearts. If East wins the queen of hearts, he would be endplayed to lead away from the king of spades. This works on the actual hand and if East has Qx in hearts. If East has a fourth diamond he cannot break up the squeeze from his side. The declarer following this line would make a useful overtrick and a 95% board as East would still get squeezed in the black suits after trumps are drawn.

The least successful auction was the above, perpetrated by JB and NS. 2H instead of 3H would have shown a good hand with hearts from JB and would have been my choice. South clearly interpreted it as a splinter for spades, although it was not clear where the missing nine hearts would be. He signed off in 3S. And North should clearly bid 4H over that but had a senior moment. The other JB appears to have done better this week.