You can ask any competent tournament bridge player and they will tell you that nothing can beat the score that comes about as a result of a little good luck. Disciplined bidding, expert technique, and excellent counting skills will keep a player in good standing, but you need a little luck to win on occasion. This hand is an example of what a little luck can do.
South liked his distribution and opened with a bid of one heart. North bid two no trump which was, by agreement, a conventional response known as "Jacoby Two No Trump". This bid shows a forcing heart raise and possible slam interest. South responded conventionally by bidding three spades. This bid shows a singleton spade. Four clubs by North is a cue bid showing the ace of clubs.
The bidding so far has been aggressive, but not unusual. My choice for the next call by South would be four hearts. This would deny a holding that included the diamond or spade ace. More to the point, the South hand only contains eleven high card points and even though the distribution is attractive, there is very little left to say. South's delusions were grand, however, as is very often the case with tournament players. Four no trump asked for the number of "key cards" in the North hand. Key cards are defined as the four aces and the king of the agreed upon trump suit, in this case, hearts.
North's five diamond response was conventional and showed that he held either one or four key cards. If South held two or three key cards he would know that North had only one, because there would not be room for four. Holding only one key card is a good reason for South not to take control of the hand, but continue the cue bidding sequence. South's five heart call catered to the fact that the partnership may have only two key cards.
North was aware of the problem. It was obvious to him that the pointed aces were missing, but he had a diamond void and an extra trump, so he took the bull by the horns and bid the small slam. South was under the assumption that North would only bid again if he had four key cards, not one. The grand slam now looked like a very good bet, and South was anything but shy when it came to grand slams.
East could not believe this auction. How could anyone bid a grand slam, or even a small slam, missing two aces and the king of trump? And so, the final contract was seven hearts, doubled, with West on opening lead.
It is an accepted fact that a slam bid by competent players will normally have a decent chance of being made, thus there is little to be gained by doubling the final contract, unless that double has some special meaning. Most players agree that a double of a freely bid slam, when made by the defender not on lead, calls for an unusual opening lead or a lead of the suit first bid by dummy. In this case, East could have a club void and be able to ruff the opening trick. Remember, South has shown a singleton spade, not a singleton club. With all of this in mind, West dutifully led a club, won by the king in the south hand. The ace of hearts crashed the king and the queen. a diamond was led and ruffed in dummy. The ace of clubs provided the resting spot for the ten of spades from the closed hand and the king of diamonds eventually became a trick during the process of cross ruffing. Seven hearts, doubled, making seven, is worth 2,470 points.
Fortunately, for the defenders, duplicate bridge scoring is hand by hand. In this case, all that was lost were the twelve match points at risk on this particular hand. The next hand could very well be a part score where an over trick could result in a large match point swing the other way. Each hand is exciting in its own way, but there is very little to compare with a doubled grand slam.