Terence Reese

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Terence Reese (August 28, 1913 – January 29, 1996) was a British bridge player and writer, regarded as one of the finest of all time in both fields. He was born in Epsom to middle-class parents, and was educated at Bradfield College and New College, Oxford, where he studied classics and took a double first.

Terence Reese as a young man
Terence Reese as a young man

Contents

[edit] Life

His father, the son of a Welsh clergyman, worked in a bank until he transferred to his wife's family catering business. Reese said "I played card games before I could read".[1] In his teens, when his mother "issued the standard warning about not talking to strange men, my father remarked that it was the strange men who should be warned against trying to talk to me" (op cit, p1).

His mother Anne ran a hotel near Guildford, and with it a bridge club, so Reese played in the earliest duplicate matches, around 1930. Whilst at Oxford he met some serious bridge players, amongst whom were Lt.-Col. Walter Buller, Iain Macleod and Maurice Harrison-Gray, the strongest player in the country at that time. Reese wrote his first book under the patronage of Hubert Phillips in 1937, and started working for Phillips' magazine within a year of graduating. From that point on, his profession was contract bridge as a player and writer.

Reese joined the ARP a few months before the war, and was never inducted into the armed forces. He ended up working in the factory of Pedro Juan (a fellow bridge player), which manufactured black-out curtains. When a Ministry of Labour inspector turned up to check on him, a hasty phone-call was needed to get Terence into an office surrounded by ledgers. [2]

Reese had some hobbies; even those he pursued with typical commitment. He was always a cricket and chess enthusiast. After WWII he made a book on greyhound racing; later he became an avid football fan, reputedly supporting Queen's Park Rangers, whose ground was next door to the White City Stadium, a home of greyhound racing. He played various other games for money, especially canasta, poker and backgammon, and wrote books on them.

Reese edited the British Bridge World from 1956 to 1962, and was married to Alwyn Sherrington in 1970.

[edit] Career as a player

As a bridge player, Reese won every honour in the game, including the European Championship four times (1948, 1949, 1954, 1963) and the Bermuda Bowl (effectively, the World Team Championship) in 1955. He was also World Par champion in 1961 and was placed second in the World Teams Olympiad in 1960, and the World Open Pairs in 1962. He also represented Britain in the Olympiad 1960 and the Bermuda Bowl 1965, and in five other European Championships. He won the Gold Cup, the premier British domestic competition, on eight occasions.[3]

Reese last played international bridge in the 1970 European Championship, but his career as a bridge writer continued unabated. In his later years, Reese played little competitive bridge, preferring backgammon as an alternative.

[edit] The Little Major

During the early 1960s, together with first Boris Schapiro and then Jeremy Flint, he created the Little Major bidding system. Initially it was supposedly intended as a warning of what would happen if the development of artificial bidding systems was allowed to go unchecked. However, under this camouflage, the system was a genuine attempt with interesting features. The Little Major was described in Bridge Magazine on two occasions, the last in the August 1989 issue. In it Reese promulgated three general principles: [4][5]

1. Aggressive openings on all hands that are ill-equipped for competition. All such defenceless hands are opened 1S or higher.
2. Early definition of range and type. Opening suit bids from 1S to 2S are precise as to range and pattern.
3. Extension of bidding vocabulary through use of relay bids and two-way bids.

Opening bids as follows:

1C = hearts; 1D negative.
1D = a spade suit or a 16-19 NT.
1H = NT hand of 20+ points or an Acol two-bid.
1S = 12-15 points, 5-4 or better in the minors.
1NT = 13-15 balanced.
2C, 2D = 12-15 with a fair suit.
2H, 2S = weak two, 7-11 with good suit.
2NT = Either a weak minor suit pre-empt or a strong distributional minor two-suiter.
3C, 3D = Strong, mainly minor-suit hand, 15-18, usually 6-4 or 7-3.
3H up to 4S as in Acol.

Although the system was given an A licence by the EBU, permitting its use in the more important competitions, it did not catch on, and dropped out of use when Reese retired. However, other systems were devised elsewhere using similar principles, so here perhaps British masters missed an opportunity to make life difficult for their opponents. [6]

[edit] Opinions of Reese

Reese's long-time partner, Boris Schapiro, put his opinion in a bridge magazine article:

"Terence Reese: brilliant, tenacious and imaginative; any amount of courage, very good bidder, immaculate dummy player and defender, never puts pressure on partner. Concentration first class; difficult to play against." [7]

Eleven years later, Schapiro still thought Reese was the best player in the country:

"Reese is still the best, and in my opinion by a greater margin than before. His dummy and defence are as immaculate as ever, and the old gentleman has actually polished up his bidding. Believe it or not, he has condescended to play 'fourth suit forcing' and Stayman, and I strongly suspect that by 1973 he will be giving the Baron system a close look." [8]

Victor Mollo had this to say about Reese in 1967:

Terence Reese is, perhaps, the best bridge player in the world. Cold, aloof, dispassionate, he has many admirers... and a host of enemies. Intelligence of a high order... the impression of a one-sided but very unusual personality. [9]

[edit] The Buenos Aires affair

Reese's 1965 appearance in the Buenos Aires Bermuda Bowl was marred by an accusation that he and his partner Boris Schapiro were communicating illegally (i.e. cheating). At a hearing held at the tournament site in Buenos Aires, the World Bridge Federation (WBF) judged Reese and Schapiro guilty of transmitting finger signals to each other indicating how many hearts each held. The WBF banned them from the remainder of the Bermuda Bowl and ordered the forfeit of all matches in which they had participated up to that point; further punishment was left uncertain at that time.

An important factor in the Buenos Aires procedure was that the pair had not been given an adequate opportunity to defend themselves. The British team captain had agreed with the accusation before discussing the matter with the players. The British Bridge League subsequently convened their own enquiry into the matter in a manner which did allow the players to defend themselves.

After many months, and taking testimony from a number of eyewitnesses, bridge analysts, and character witnesses, the "Foster Enquiry", as it was called, concluded that Reese and Schapiro had not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and therefore acquitted them. Several factors must have played a part in this decision, especially the fact that little or no connection could be made between the claimed signals and the results at the table. Reese and Schapiro had not played especially well in Buenos Aires; Reese commented later that no pair were likely to cheat in a way that did not help them win. A simple system to signal whether a player was good or poor for his bid would be almost certain to bring good dividends. [10]

In his 1966 book The Story of an Accusation Reese went through every single hand presented by the 'prosecution' and showing that the bidding was clear by the principles of the Acol system they were using, and several occasions when they might have used information about the heart suit had it been available. Truscott also wrote his account, concentrating on the observations and reaching the opposite conclusion. [11]

Neither side changed their opinions, and a considerable rift developed in the bridge world. In fact, there were other cases of accusations at the highest level, in one of which members of the famous Italian Blue Team were accused, again by members of the American team. The solution to this unsatisfactory situation came at last with introduction of bidding boxes and the system of movable compartments ('screens') which prevent players from seeing their own partners during bidding (a system only used at tournaments of the highest rank).

[edit] Flint's account

One other member of the British team, Reese's then main partner Jeremy Flint, gave a lengthy account of the accusation.[12] Flint starts by mentioning some facts that were known at the time, but may be forgotten now. The results of the BBL trials was: 1 Reese—Flint; 2 Konstam—Schapiro; 3 Albert Rose—Ralph Swimer. The BBL then announced the team, omitting Swimer and substituting Maurice Harrison-Gray. Gray was still a great player, but it was no surprise that controversy followed. Eventually, Swimer had to be content with being non-playing captain. In addition, Reese and Schapiro were hardly on speaking terms at the time; Reese's decision to form a partnership with Flint had been decided in 1962, and the pair co-operated to develop the Little Major bidding system.

Flint makes two main points (over and above points made by Reese) as follows:
1. The bitter quarrel between Reese and Schapiro "was surely not the perfect background for alleged dishonest complicity".
2. When Flint was playing with Reese in the closed room, Geoffrey Butler (BBL official) and Waldemar von Zedwitz (senior American master) came to watch. After the session Flint said to Reese:

"Terence, you realise we were being watched."
"Good gracious," he replied "Do you think so?"
"I suppose they must be considering banning the Little Major," I ventured.

"Reese is considered a fool by no-one [yet] according to his accusers he continued to exchange signals for the next seven days". (Flint, op cit p125)

[edit] Career as a bridge author

Reese also had a second career as a bridge author and journalist, a career that lasted throughout his life. He was one of the most influential and acerbic of bridge writers, with a large output (over fifty books), including several books which remain in print as classics of bridge play. He was also the long-time bridge correspondent of The Lady, The Observer, the London Evening News and the Evening Standard.

He was one of the first to adopt the Acol bidding system (named after the Acol Bridge Club in North London), which became the prevailing bidding system in Britain and some other parts of the world. He co-authored the first textbook on Acol with Ben Cohen in 1938. Its various editions gave a certain unity to what was otherwise a rather free-wheeling bidding system. His later adaptation of Garozzo and Yallouze's book on the Blue Club and his book on the Precision Club were widely used by devotees of strong club systems, and by their opponents as references.

The great success of Reese on Play (an outstanding text on dummy play and defence) was followed by an even more ambitious work. The Expert Game was the book which really made his name. As the title suggests, it dealt with card play at the highest level, including some ideas that were novel at the time, for instance, inferences from events that did not occur, and the principle of restricted choice. Examples of bridge logic abound in Reese, for instance, a player who overcalls but does not lead his suit is likely to lack one or two key honours; this concept is often called 'the dog that did not bark in the night' (after Sherlock Holmes in Arthur Conan Doyle's Silver Blaze). Another form of logic can be seen in 'If it must be so, assume it is so'. His examples of counting (and other ways of drawing inferences from the bidding and play) spread such ideas from a coterie of masters in London (or New York) to a much wider group of nascent experts. For at least twenty years after this book was published, one could be sure that virtually every top-class player had studied it minutely.

Reese also had the distinction of creating several new genres of bridge book. The most significant was the 'Over my shoulder' genre, where the reader is taken through the master's thinking as the bidding and play proceeds through the hand. Play Bridge with Reese was the model for several such works. Develop your bidding judgement was another such work.

Later, Reese made use of the growing library of hands from international competitions to create interesting quiz-type books, where the discussion was usually on the verso of the page which presented the problem. Famous hands from famous matches was the first of these, followed by Famous bidding decisions and Famous play decisions, all written with David Bird. In his career as a writer, Reese had a number of co-authors, mostly highly competent players and writers, yet all his books were in his inimitable style.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Reese, Terence 1977. Bridge at the Top, Faber & Faber, London. Chapter 1.
  2. ^ Reese, Terence 1977. Bridge at the Top. Faber & Faber, London. p27
  3. ^ The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge. ACBL, N.Y., various editions and dates.
  4. ^ Reese, Terence 1969. Seven-stone weakling. Bridge Magazine, August 1969. p96 et seq
  5. ^ Reese, Terence and Albert Dormer 1968. Bridge for tournament players. Hale, London.
  6. ^ Reese, Terence 1977. Bridge at the Top. Faber & Faber, London. p112 et seq.
  7. ^ Schapiro, Boris 1951. Knights of the square table. Contract bridge journal, reprinted in Hasenson P. 2004. British Bridge Almanack. 77, London. p63
  8. ^ Schapiro, Boris 1962. Contract bridge journal, reprinted in Hasenson P. British Bridge Almanack 2004. 77, London. p63
  9. ^ Mollo, Victor 1967. The bridge immortals. Faber, London. p85
  10. ^ Reese, Terence. 1967. The Story of an Accusation. Heinemann, London.
  11. ^ Truscott, Alan. 1966. The Great Bridge Scandal.
  12. ^ Flint, Jeremy and Freddie North, 1970. Tiger bridge: the game at the top. Hale, London. Chapter 8 The great bridge scandal.

[edit] Select bibliography

  • Phillips, Hubert and Terence Reese 1937. The elements of contract. British Bridge World, London.
  • Cohen, Ben and Terence Reese 1938. The Acol Two Club: with an introduction by S.J.Simon. Leng, Sheffield. This book was the first text-book of Acol, its authors wisely disclaiming any claim to originality: "We do a job of reporting". The book had a famous Preface by Skid Simon on 'Attitude of Mind'.
    Second and subsequent editions were issued under the title of The Acol System of contract bridge. Joiner & Steele, London. 2nd ed 1939; 3rd ed 1946, with 13 hands from the Waddington Par Contest; 4th ed 1949, with a selection of hands from the 1949 International Series. In this 4th ed there were three new chapters, on competitive bidding, mistakes to avoid, and two clubs over one no-trump (Marx version). 5th ed [1956?], with a selection of hands from the 1955-56 international events and an Introduction by Guy Ramsey.
  • Reese, Terence 1947. Reese on play: an introduction to good bridge. Arnold, London. Standard text on card-play in bridge; remains in print to this day.
  • Reese, Terence 1952. Modern bidding and the Acol system. Nicholson & Watson, London.
  • Reese, Terence and Harold Franklin 1955. World Bridge Championship (Great Britain v. United States). De La Rue, London.
  • Reese, Terence 1958. The expert game. Arnold, London; in USA as Master Play, 1960.
  • Reese, Terence 1960. Play bridge with Reese. Sterling.
  • Reese, Terence and Albert Dormer 1961. The Acol system today. Arnold, London. Second edition revised, 1978, as Bridge: the Acol system of bidding. Pan, London.
  • Reese, Terence 1962. Develop your bidding judgement. Oak Tree, London.
  • Reese, Terence and Harold Franklin 1965. Best of bridge on the air: the Listener book of bridge. BBC, London. Problems and questions distilled from over 200 radio programmes. The hands were later discussed in The Listener.
  • Reese, Terence 1967. The story of an accusation. Heinemann, London.
  • Reese, Terence and Albert Dormer 1968. Bridge for tournament players. Hale, London.
  • Reese, Terence 1972. Precision bidding and precision play. Allen, London.
  • Reese, Terence 1976. Play these hands with me. Allen, London.
  • Reese, Terence 1977. Bridge at the top. Faber & Faber, London. This is an anecdotal autobiography.
  • Reese, Terence and David Bird 1991. Famous hands from famous matches. Cadogan, London.
  • Reese, Terence and David Bird 1996. Famous bidding decisions. Gollancz, London.
  • Reese, Terence and David Bird 1997. Famous play decisions. Gollancz, London.

[edit] External links

Reese wrote a book about the Buenos Aires affair entitled The Story of an Accusation. Alan Truscott, one of his adversaries in the enquiry at Buenos Aires, wrote The Great Bridge Scandal describing the same events from the opposite perspective.

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