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The Great Bridge Scandal: The Most Famous Cheating Case in the History of the Game
In 1965, the bridge world was rocked by an accusation of cheating at the world championships in Buenos Aires. The pair involved were Britain's Terence Reese and Boris Schapiro, two of the world's best players. Now, almost fifty years later, the true inside story can be told - the investigation, the accusation, and the very different results of the World Bridge Federation and British Bridge League inquiries.
340 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2004
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About the author
Alan F. Truscott
20 booksAlan Fraser Truscott (April 16, 1925 – September 4, 2005) was a bridge player, author and columnist. He wrote the daily bridge column for The New York Times for 41 years, from 1964 to 2005.
Truscott was born in Brixton, London, and showed early prowess at chess as well as bridge. He attended Whitgift School, and served in the Royal Navy towards the end of World War II. He studied at the University of Oxford from 1947, playing for the university at both chess and bridge. He was a member of the British team (along with Terence Reese and Boris Schapiro) that won a bronze medal at the European bridge championships in 1951, aged only 26. In 1958 he was a member of the British team that finished second, and in 1961 his team won the gold medal in the same event at Torquay. Truscott's team also finished third in the 1962 Bermuda Bowl held in New York City.
He was also involved in the investigation of a cheating scandal at the Bermuda Bowl in Buenos Aires in 1965. A pair of British players (Reese and Schapiro) were accused of using their fingers to pass information about their cards by an American pair (B. Jay Becker and Dorothy Hayden). Truscott believed the British pair were guilty. They were subsequently adjudicated guilty by the World Bridge Federation authorities at the tournament in Buenos Aires. The British Bridge League (BBL) then convened its own inquiry, and several months later the BBL acquitted them. Truscott later published a book on the affair, entitled The Great Bridge Scandal. Reese published his own version of events in The Story of an Accusation.
Truscott wrote 13 books on bridge, and was executive editor of the first three editions of The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge.
He had three children with his first wife, but they divorced in 1970. He married his second wife, Dorothy Hayden, an American mathematician and international bridge player who was one of the original accusers in the Buenos Aires affair, in 1972. He died in Russia, New York.
Truscott was born in Brixton, London, and showed early prowess at chess as well as bridge. He attended Whitgift School, and served in the Royal Navy towards the end of World War II. He studied at the University of Oxford from 1947, playing for the university at both chess and bridge. He was a member of the British team (along with Terence Reese and Boris Schapiro) that won a bronze medal at the European bridge championships in 1951, aged only 26. In 1958 he was a member of the British team that finished second, and in 1961 his team won the gold medal in the same event at Torquay. Truscott's team also finished third in the 1962 Bermuda Bowl held in New York City.
He was also involved in the investigation of a cheating scandal at the Bermuda Bowl in Buenos Aires in 1965. A pair of British players (Reese and Schapiro) were accused of using their fingers to pass information about their cards by an American pair (B. Jay Becker and Dorothy Hayden). Truscott believed the British pair were guilty. They were subsequently adjudicated guilty by the World Bridge Federation authorities at the tournament in Buenos Aires. The British Bridge League (BBL) then convened its own inquiry, and several months later the BBL acquitted them. Truscott later published a book on the affair, entitled The Great Bridge Scandal. Reese published his own version of events in The Story of an Accusation.
Truscott wrote 13 books on bridge, and was executive editor of the first three editions of The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge.
He had three children with his first wife, but they divorced in 1970. He married his second wife, Dorothy Hayden, an American mathematician and international bridge player who was one of the original accusers in the Buenos Aires affair, in 1972. He died in Russia, New York.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 17, 2018
This book goes into great detail to describe the cheating case in Bridge back in 1965. It covers it from every angle and does its best to show both sides of the issue. It is very difficult to believe that the accused players were innocent. The preponderance of evidence as given in this book is in my opinion, overwhelming. The author was there at the time and was actively involved in the controversy, so he knew the people involved. I had a problem with the way the book was presented in that the facts were given from each person's viewpoint which made for the details to be stated over and over again at the beginning of the book. This seemed to slow down the development of the full story in some ways, but it did show how each of the people who discovered the actions of the accused were introduced to the situation and how they responded. I do think the book covers the issue from all sides and does attempt to present the arguments in the accused defense. I would say that the author presents the story well and does definitely believe the accused were guilty. It is difficult to think otherwise when you look at the details of the situation.
Displaying 1 of 1 review