Valley of the Kings

“Thou who leadeth wrongly upon the Temple of Karnak
shall resurrect declarer with swift wings.”

Sixteen years ago on my visit to Luxor, Egypt, I recall seeing the above warning (translated from hieroglyphs) in the antechamber of Tutankhamen’s tomb. Does this ancient curse reveal the true origin of bridge? Who knows, as I might be mistaken about the whole thing. Maybe I heard it on the Tonight Show from Johnny Carson as “Karnak, the Magnificent.”

This is a defensive-play challenge for all bridge players. On each of the six problems you, West, are the opening leader and begin by leading a king (what else). Then you have to choose your next lead from the choices listed. Each option will be rated on a 1-to-10 scale per my judgment.

Bidding is standard (unless noted), and you use standard leads and signals.
For a reference see Standard American Bridge. Assume all players are experts.

In June of 2003 these problems were presented as a contest, which had 752 entrants from 106 locations. The contest is now closed, but you can still challenge yourself and find your score immediately. If you’re lucky, you might even win a valuable prize.*

*Prizes include a gold sarcophagus and nine tana leaves. Winners must be at least 18 years old and descendants of Princess Ananka.
Employees of PavCo Pyramid Schemes and their immediate family are ineligible.

So what are you waiting for? Get out your shovel and enter the tomb. But watch your footing, and beware the Curse of Karnak!

Problem 1

Matchpoints	J 6 5 3		West	North	East	South
None vul	J 4 2		You	Dummy	Partner	Declarer
	5 3 2		1	Pass	Pass	Dbl
	A 4 2		2	Pass	Pass	2
A K 9 8 2			Pass	Pass	Pass
6
K Q 9 8
K 10 8		2 South

Trick	Lead	2nd	3rd	4th
1. W	K	3	4	Q

Your next lead?  A  9  2  6  K  8

Problem 2

Matchpoints	10 9 6 2		West	North	East	South
E-W vul	A Q 10 9 5		You	Dummy	Partner	Declarer
	Q 2		1	1	Pass	2 NT
	9 3		Pass	Pass	Pass
A K J 5
K 3 2
9 3
K 10 8 4		2 NT South

Trick	Lead	2nd	3rd	4th
1. W	K	2	3	8

Your next lead?  A  5  K  3  9  4

Problem 3

Matchpoints	A Q 8		West	North	East	South
Both vul	J 8 7 4 3		You	Dummy	Partner	Declarer
	A Q 2					1
	4 2		Pass	1	Pass	1 NT
10 4			Pass	2 1	Pass	2 NT
Q 6 2			Pass	3 NT	All Pass
J 10 8 7
A K J 7		3 NT South	1. artificial checkback

Trick	Lead	2nd	3rd	4th
1. W	K	2	9	6

Your next lead?  10  2  J  A  J  7

Problem 4

Matchpoints	Q J 5 4		West	North	East	South
N-S vul	Q 10 6		You	Dummy	Partner	Declarer
	Q 5 3					1
	10 9 5		Dbl	2	Pass	4
A 9 3			Pass	Pass	Pass
5
K J 9 4
K Q 8 6 3		4 South

Trick	Lead	2nd	3rd	4th
1. W	K	5	4	J

Your next lead?  A  3  5  J  Q  6

Problem 5

Matchpoints	A J 3		West	North	East	South
E-W vul	8 6 4 2		You	Dummy	Partner	Declarer
	K 10 7		1	Dbl	Pass	4
	A 10 4		Pass	Pass	Pass
Q 5 4
A K 9 3
Q 8 5
Q J 2		4 South

Trick	Lead	2nd	3rd	4th
1. W	K	2	Q	7

Your next lead?  4  A  3  Q  5  2

Problem 6

Matchpoints	J 7 2		West	North	East	South
None vul	A 7 3		You	Dummy	Partner	Declarer
	10 3 2			1	Pass	1
	A K 8 2		Pass	1 NT	Pass	3
9 6 5			Pass	3	Pass	4 NT
8 2			Pass	5	Pass	6
K Q 9 6			All Pass
Q 7 6 5		6 South

Trick	Lead	2nd	3rd	4th
1. W	K	2	4	5

Your next lead?  6  8  Q  9  Q  5

 Click to see how you did

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© 2003 Richard Pavlicek