bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

, the Deschapelles coup is the lead of an unsupported honor to create an entry in partner's hand; often confused with the

Merrimac coup The Merrimac coup (also known as Hobson's coup or Hobson's choice) is a contract bridge coup where a player (usually a defender) sacrifices a high card in order to eliminate a vital entry from an opponent's hand (usually a dummy). It was named aft ...

, the lead of an unsupported honor to kill an entry in an opponent's hand. This sacrificial play was invented by

Alexandre Deschapelles Alexandre Deschapelles (March 7, 1780 in Ville-d'Avray near VersaillesOctober 27, 1847 in Paris) was a French chess player who, between the death of François-André Danican Philidor and the rise of Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais, was prob ...

, a 19th-century

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

and

whist Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was widely played in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although the rules are simple, there is scope for strategic play. History Whist is a descendant of the 16th-century game of ''trump'' ...

player ,

Example

Geir Helgemo Geir Helgemo (born 14 February 1970) is a professional bridge player who was born in Norway but is now a citizen of Monaco. Through 2012 he had won three world championships in competition. As of August 2018 he ranked first among Open World Gra ...

executed this Deschapelles Coup in a 1998 tournament.Daily Bulletin of the Generali World Masters Championship, 19 April 1998. Helgemo was East against South's 4. West led a small spade, Helgemo put up the Q and South won the A. South then returned a spade to Helgamo's K. Helgemo cashed the A and switched to the K (the coup). Dummy won the A and played the Q to the K, A and J. Now declarer tried to enter dummy with the K, but Helgemo ruffed, put West in with the Q, and ruffed the club return for down two. It would not have helped South to duck the K because Helgemo would simply have continued hearts, winding up with a trick in each suit. And it would not have helped Helgemo to switch to a ''low'' heart at trick four. South wins West's Q with the A, leads the Q, covered and won, and then leads another heart to endplay Helgemo. This is a particularly unusual Deschapelles coup, because it is combined with a Merrimac coup. The same play of the K both establishes an entry for West and takes out an entry to dummy.

References

External links

BridgeGuys
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deschapelles Coup Contract bridge coups