Rixi Markus

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Rixi Markus MBE (June 27, 1910 – April 4, 1992) was a British international bridge player. She won five world titles, and was the first woman to become a World Bridge Federation Grandmaster. She was appointed MBE for contributions to bridge in 1974.

[edit] Life

Markus was born as Erika Scharfstein into a prosperous Austrian Jewish family in what is now Gura Humorului (Gura Humora), Romania.^[1]

In 1916 her family fled, ahead of the Russian advance, settling in Vienna. After finishing school in Dresden she returned to Vienna, where she first made her name at the bridge table. Married young, and disastrously, she devoted herself almost entirely to bridge.

In 1938, she fled Austria after German forces entered Vienna (the Anschluss). Rixi then made her home in London, where she remained for the rest of her life. She worked as a translator for the Red Cross during World War II, and became a naturalised British citizen in 1950.

Rixi's husband also came to London. He fought her efforts to gain independence in every way he could, and fought her for custody of their daughter Margo.^[2] Divorce was not simple in those days, but Rixi obtained a judicial separation. She described in her autobiography three subsequent long-term relationships with men: first Standish Booker, a leading bridge player, then Wash Carr (Walter Copley Carr) of the News of the World, and lastly Harold Lever (Lord Lever), a senior Labour Party politician.

[edit] Bridge career and personality

Brilliant, intense and argumentative are amongst the mildest adjectives used to describe her presence at the table. ^[3]

She became the protégée of Dr. Paul Stern of the pre-World War II Vienna Bridge Club, the inventor of the Vienna System of bidding. Soon she was one of the top women players, and played for Austria in 1935-1937, winning the European title twice and the Women's World Championship in 1937. Both Rixi and Stern escaped (separately) to London, Stern having burnt his boats by returning his World War I Iron Cross to the Nazi High Command accompanied by an insulting letter. In 1950 Markus qualified to play for Britain by virtue of her naturalisation.

The victorious Austrian ladies' team at the 1937 World Championship: Rixi Markus top left. Other members, from left: Marianne Boschan, Gertie Brunner, Ethel Ernst, Elizabeth Klauber, Gertie Schlesinger (seated).

Her first partnership in Britain was with Lady Doris Rhodes, a quality player who had played in the 1933 match between 'Pops' Beasley's British team, and the Culbertson team. They played together in the European women's team championship of 1951 (Venice), and 1952 (Dun Laoghaire or Dunleary), winning both times, and in a 1953 tour of the USA where they played in two victorious matches against the USA ladies team.

However, it was Rixi's partnership with Fritzi Gordon in the European championships of 1955 (Amsterdam) that led to her dominance of the female game in Europe. Excitable and voluble, their post-mortems could often be heard many tables away. She was the same when partnered by any of the great male players such as Boris Schapiro or Giorgio Belladonna; but her friends knew her to be generous and loyal.^[4] Markus' attitude to Gordon was made clear in her autobiography:

"As early as 1945 Paul Stern pointed out Fritzi Gordon to me, saying 'There is the partner for you.' I was not enthusiastic. For one thing, I already had a more than satisfactory partner in Doris Rhodes, a good friend, and for another I suspected that Mrs Gordon and I would not hit it off socially, whatever we did at the table. My opinion did not change when she played at the Hamilton Club and I got to know her better. [But] as far as bridge is concerned, I have not a word of complaint about Fritzi Gordon, for she was a wonderful player and an excellent partner, who contributed greatly to my own success." ^[5]

Markus was captain of the winning team at Monte Carlo in 1954 against formidable opposition from all over the world: her team-mates were Konstam, Dodds, Reese, Schapiro and 'Plum' Meredith. After their victory, Reese and Konstam decided to ask the British selectors to include Markus in their team for the European championships at Montreux that year, but the selectors did not choose her for either the Open or Ladies teams (the reasons are not known). The Open team played with the lesser player Jordanis Pavlides in her place since their other regular team members (such as Pedro Juan) were not available. This team won the European and later the Bermuda Bowl trophies. In effect, a bizarre decision by the selectors cost her the European and World Open teams championships.^[6] She had other disappointments; this was not the only time she was dropped from the Ladies' team, often when her results were quite outstanding.

"In 1969 we were robbed of victory in Oslo [European championships] by the inefficient and ludicrous handling of a technical offence. After we had been declared winners and the results posted on the notice-board a protest about late play early in the match was made. The event ended in complete confusion, but in 1970 the official program listed France as the 1969 champions." ^[7]

Markus was for many years the bridge correspondent of The Guardian and after 1975 the London Evening Standard, and wrote a dozen bridge books, including her autobiography. Generally recognized as the top European woman player, she was the first woman to become a World Bridge Federation Grandmaster and was the leading woman in the WBF master point rankings from their inception in 1974 until 1980. She was named International Bridge Press Association Personality of the Year in 1974, and was appointed MBE for contributions to bridge a year later. For many years she organized an annual match between the two Houses of Parliament.

[edit] Bridge record

• 1935 European Women's Championship
• 1936 European Women's Championship
• 1937 World Women's Championship

• 1951 European Women's Championship
• 1952 European Women's Championship
• 1957 Master Pairs
• 1959 European Women's Championship
• 1961 European Women's Championship; Gold Cup
• 1962 World Women's Pairs; World Mixed Teams
• 1963 European Women's Championship
• 1964 World Women's Teams
• 1966 European Women's Championship
• 1974 World Women's Pairs
• 1975 European Women's Championship

[edit] Books

• Aces and Places
• Better bridge for club players (with Terence Reese)
• Bid boldly, play safe
• Bridge around the world
• Bridge table tales
• Bridge with Rixi
• Common-sense bridge
• Improve your bridge
• Play better bridge
• The Rixi Markus Book of bridge

• More deadly than the male
• A vulnerable game: the memoirs of Rixi Markus (with David Mountfield). Collins, London 1988.

[edit] References

1. ^ Francis G (ed) 1984. The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge. ACBL. p680 lists her, correctly, as born in Austria; she was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in a part which was later reallocated to Romania. Guy Ramsey in Aces All (p102) describes her as "Viennese of origin". At any rate, that is where she learnt her bridge.
2. ^ Markus, Rixi 1988. A vulnerable game: the memoirs of Rixi Markus (with David Mountfield). Collins, London. p57 et seq
3. ^ Ramsey, Guy 1955. Aces All. Museum Press, London. p100 et seq.
4. ^ Patrick Jourdain: Obituary, English Bridge Union website
5. ^ Markus, Rixi 1988. A vulnerable game: the memoirs of Rixi Markus (with David Mountfield). Collins, London. p87
6. ^ Markus, Rixi 1972. Common-sense bridge. The Bodley Head, London. Chapter 1, p26-27
7. ^ Markus, Rixi 1972. Common-sense bridge. The Bodley Head, London. p29

[edit] External links

• Obituary, English Bridge Union website