Psellos
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The Schnapsen Log

November 29, 2013

Show of Force (solution)

Martin Tompa

There is only one possible way for Tibor to proceed and have a chance of winning. He must cash his winning A and force Peter to use a trump by leading J. This will be the position after Peter trumps, say with his ♣K:

Peter: (25 points)

T
♣ AJ

Tibor: (49 points)


♣ TQ
T

When you planned the play, did you work out that Peter is actually endplayed at this point? Tibor has executed a counterforce play. Peter would like to reinstate his trump control by forcing Tibor back with T, but Tibor would trump this with his ♣T and reach 69 trick points. Peter has only two other plays available from this position. He can cash his ♣A, crossing the 33-point threshold, and then help Tibor pull trumps by leading ♣J, after which Tibor will take the remaining tricks. Or he can lead ♣J immediately, which is what he decides to do, because it gives Tibor one more chance to make a mistake. Tibor is now on lead from this position:

Peter: (25 points)

T
♣ A

Tibor: (61 points)


♣ Q
T

Tibor knows his brother has only one more trump, so he forces once more with T and wins the last trick with his remaining trump.

“Well played, Tibor,” his brother says with a congratulatory smile. “Do you know that Hans and I named that kind of play a ‘counterforce’? Let me tell you about the time we discovered it together …”

© 2013 Martin Tompa. All rights reserved.


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About the Author

Martin Tompa

Martin Tompa (tompa@psellos.com)

I am a Professor of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, where I teach discrete mathematics, probability and statistics, design and analysis of algorithms, and other related courses. I have always loved playing games. Games are great tools for learning to think logically and are a wonderful component of happy family or social life.

Read about Winning Schnapsen, the very first and definitive book on the winning strategy for this fascinating game.

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