Boris Schapiro

Boris Schapiro (August 22, 1909 – December 1, 2002) was a British international bridge player. He was a Grandmaster of the World Bridge Federation, and the only player to have won both the Bermuda Bowl (the world championship for teams) and the World Senior Pairs championship. He won the European teams championship on four occasions as part of the British team.

Life

Schapiro was born in Riga, Latvia (part of Imperial Russia at that time) into a prosperous family of Jewish traders which left at the time of the Russian Revolution when he was eight years old, and soon settled in England. [ [http://www.ebu.co.uk/general/biographies/obituaries/borisschapiro.htm Obituary by English Bridge Union] ] He was educated at Clifton School in England and at various universities, including the Sorbonne in Paris.

After graduating, Boris joined the family horse trading and meat business. He worked there until, in his forties, he decided to retire and capitalise on his love of gambling by becoming the banker of a baccarat syndicate at Crockford's, the gaming club in London. During WWII Schapiro, who was fluent in Russian, German and French, put these linguistic skills to use in the Army Intelligence Corps.

Schapiro had an early marriage to a Russian woman. He later married a second time, to Helen, in 1970.

Bridge career

At ten, Schapiro started playing bridge for money at school. His first major tournament was in 1929, when he went to the USA to partner Oswald Jacoby in the World Auction Bridge Pairs Championship. The two players were destined to have great and lengthy careers in the coming world of contract bridge. Schapiro's first recorded victory at contract bridge was in the World Pairs Championship of 1932, also with Jacoby. This was before the foundation of the present World Bridge Federation. [Hiron, Maureen 2002. Boris Schapiro. An obituary published or reprinted in Hasenson P. 2004. "British Bridge Almanack". 77, London. p222-4]

Schapiro's entry into serious competitive bridge in Britain was delayed until the end of WWII. His partnership with Terence Reese, which started in 1944, [Reese, Terence 1977. "Bridge at the top". Faber, London. p36] was the basis of his most outstanding period as a player. He was also successful with other partners, the last of which was Irving 'Haggis' Gordon. His bidding in competitive situations was quite outstanding, and his comments featured in bidding competitions in bridge magazines round the world. Bidding judgement and card-play in defence were the strengths of his game.

:"The characters of Reese and Schapiro were very different. At the bridge table Reese was the cold calculating machine, driven by logic, but witty and good-natured away from it, though with an acerbic phrase when needed. Schapiro was the player of flair; excitable, always on the move, irascible at the table and often grumpy away from it. He did not mellow with old age. At the 1999 European Senior Teams, opponents who called the referee in a vain attempt to protect Schapiro's partner from verbal abuse were told there were special dispensations in standards of behaviour for any competitor over the age of 90." [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/12/03/db0302.xml Obituary] in "The Daily Telegraph" 02.12.2002.

Major tournament successes

Schapiro won many tournaments; his first major win being Britain's Gold Cup in 1945-6, partnered by Iain Macleod. He won the Gold Cup eleven times in all, a record. His last victory was in 1997-8 at the age of 88, a remarkable 52 years after his first win and 33 years after his penultimate success. [Peter Hasenson, "British Bridge Almanack", 77 Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-9549241-0-X, p222 & p244.]

In 1955 Britain, with Reese and Schapiro, Konstam and Dodds, Meredith and Pavlides, won the Bermuda Bowl, beating the USA in the world championship for teams. It is the only occasion a British team has won this event.

Schapiro also won the World Mixed Teams in 1962. At the age of 89, he won the World Senior Pairs title (partnered by Irving Gordon) at the World Bridge Championships in 1998. He was second in the World Olympiad of 1960, and the World Open Pairs 1962. He also represented Britain in the World Olympiad 1964, and the Bermuda Bowl of the same year (which was played at the start of 1965). He played in ten European Championships, winning in 1948, 1949, 1954 and 1963.

Although the British team had won the Bermuda Bowl in 1955, Schapiro's 1965 experience was altogether different.

1965 Bermuda Bowl accusation

Schapiro was accused of cheating in the 1964/5 Bermuda Bowl in Buenos Aires. He and his British team partner Terence Reese were said to have been signalling illegally to each other the length of their hearts suit.

American players Dorothy Hayden and B. Jay Becker claimed that the British pair were holding their cards with their fingers arranged in unusual ways. They conferred with Alan Truscott (the bridge editor of "The New York Times") and arranged for the three of them to observe Reese and Schapiro whilst taking written notes indicating how many fingers were visible when each held their cards in each hand.

Subsequent comparisons of the official hand records to the notes (by Hayden, Becker, and Truscott) appeared to show that the fingers displayed indicated the number of hearts held. One finger meant one heart was held; two fingers together meant two hearts, while two fingers divided in a "V" shape meant five hearts; three fingers together meant three, with three fingers spread denoting six; four fingers together meant four, and four fingers spread meant seven hearts were held. No signal for a hand with a heart void was suggested.

Several other eyewitnesses, including Ralph Swimer (captain of the British team) also became convinced of the truth of these accusations. Later comparisons with hand records seemed to confirm that the code remained consistent when Reese and Schapiro were partners, but disappeared when they played with other partners. The matter was then reported to World Bridge Federation (WBF) officials for adjudication.

The WBF, in hearings held at Buenos Aires, decided that Reese and Schapiro were guilty, banned them from the remainder of the Bermuda Bowl, and negotiated an agreement with the British team captain to officially forfeit all matches previously won during the tournament. The WBF then referred the matter to the British Bridge League (BBL) for consideration of what further punishment, if any, was appropriate.

At that time Schapiro averred that he would never again compete internationally, though later he played in European and world senior events.

The BBL convened their own enquiry into the matter under the direction of Sir John Foster QC and General Lord Bourne. 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.

In his 1966 book "The Story of an Accusation" Reese went through every single hand presented by the 'prosecution' and demonstrated that the bidding was quite clear by the principles of the Acol system they were using, and several ways 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.

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).

Sequel

The Buenos Aires affair and its consequences disrupted Schapiro's life for a number of years. It removed at a stroke the central activity of his life. It took time for Boris to be rehabilitated into the world bridge scene, but he was always held in high esteem in Europe. Unlike Reese, he eventually re-entered international bridge, and did so with considerable success. His 90th birthday party in London was attended by Jaime Ortiz-Patino, the President Emeritus of the WBF and owner of Valderrama Golf Club, who had been a witness for Reese and Schapiro at the BBL enquiry; Omar Sharif, the Egyptian film star and bridge player; Prince Khalid Abudullah of Saudi Arabia (a family friend), and many personalities from the bridge and casino worlds. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/12/03/db0302.xml Obituary] in "The Daily Telegraph"]

Bridge writing

Schapiro was bridge correspondent of "The Sunday Times" from 1968 until his death in 2002. Despite his facility with language, Boris was never really interested in writing; his output was two small books, and it is likely that his newspaper column was often ghosted. It was as a player and a personality that he made his mark.

Boris anecdotes

There are some dozens of 'Boris stories': his conversation at the bridge table was both a delight and a nuisance, depending on your point of view. His standard greeting to females "What about a spot of adultery?" was so famous it was mentioned in every biography and obituary; it gives some idea of his mischievous sense of humour.

When his team played an exhibition match at Leicester, the wife of the Chief Constable organised a cocktail party for the team to meet the locals. The players were invited to sign the visitors' book and to add a comment. Schapiro wrote his catchphrase after his signature. Dimmie Fleming defused the situation by signing next, drawing an upwards arrow and writing, "But will he ever be adult?" [ [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/boris-schapiro-609710.html "Independent" obituary] ]

Another anecdote, apparently true, had his then partner, Terence Reese, picking up their collection of trophies from Schapiro's flat in a pillow-case. Stopped in the street by a policeman, Reese said "They're mine, and what's more there's someone living nearby who can verify it." When Boris answered the door he sized up the situation and quick as a flash: "I've never seen this man in my life!". [Hiron M. 2004. Boris Schapiro 1909-2002. in Hasenson P (ed) "British Bridge Almanack". 77, London. p222-4 – and many other sources]

Further reading

* Reese, Terence (1966): "The story of an accusation".
* Truscott, Alan (2004): "The Great Bridge Scandal: the most famous cheating case in the history of the game" (second edition). Toronto: Master Point Press, ISBN 1-894154-67-3.

References

External links

* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/12/03/db0302.xml Obituary] in "The Daily Telegraph"