Snubbed
Susanna Gross
The Buenos Aires scandal of 1965 has never been satisfactorily resolved. Terence Reese and Boris Schapiro were found guilty of cheating (by using finger signals) by the World Bridge Federation, but then exonerated by the British Bridge League. Chief witness for the prosecution was Alan Truscott, the NY Times bridge columnist who died this week. For the next decade, Truscott was snubbed by many of the top British players; when Rixi Marcus spotted Tony Priday playing with him in Deauville, she poured a glass of water on Priday’s head for ‘consorting with the enemy’. But Truscott remained convinced that Reese and Schapiro had got away with cheating for years (their former teammates Harrison Gray and the Sharples twins were equally convinced), and felt aggrieved that he and others had ‘missed out on several chances for international honours’ as a result.
In fact, Truscott had a most impressive record. He was just 26 when he first represented Britain — he and his partner Robert D’Unienville were the the youngest pair ever to do so. And he would certainly have had a longer international career had he not decided instead to concentrate on writing about bridge. Here’s Truscott at play during the European Championships of 1950: N/S vulnerable Dealer South West led the ♠5 and dummy’s ♠ 9 won. How could he enter dummy again after unblocking the diamonds? Truscott decided the only hope was if West held five spades headed by the A-Q and two small hearts. So he finessed the ♥Q, cashed the ♥A and ◆AKQ and exited with the ♠K. West took his four spade tricks but was then forced to lead a club, giving Truscott his precious entry to dummy.
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