ALAN TRUSCOTT (1925 - 2005)
For the first time in decades, the World Bridge Championships will go on without Alan Truscott, who died of cancer Sept. 4 at his summer home in the Adirondack Mountains in New York. He was 80 and lived in the Bronx.
Truscott was the bridge editor of the Times for 41 years and was a regular at a variety of tournaments. His newspaper column was unique in the genre in that it focused on current events rather than instruction. At one time, Truscott estimated that his byline had appeared in the newspaper more than 12,000 times.
A native of Great Britain, Truscott learned bridge as a schoolboy in an air-raid shelter in London.during World War II. Truscott served in the Royal Navy before enrolling at Oxford University in 1947. Already an accomplished player, he represented the university in bridge and chess.
Eight years later, Truscott and Herman Filarski of the Netherlands edited the first daily bulletin for the European Bridge Championships. Truscott took up bridge full time in 1958.
In 1960, American Richard Frey recruited Truscott to ghost-write his newspaper bridge column and work on the Official Encylopedia of Bridge, the first of several editions to which Truscott made a major contribution. He moved to New York City
in 1961.
Three years later, Truscott succeeded Albert Morehead as bridge editor of the Times.
At the world championships in Buenos Aires in 1965, Truscott and his future wife, Dorothy Hayden, became embroiled in a scandal involving Terence Reese and Boris Schapiro, British players who appeared to be relaying information to each other by the way in which they held their cards.
Truscott later wrote a book on the scandal. Dorothy Hayden became Dorothy Truscott in 1972.
Truscott wrote many books, including "The Great Bridge Scandal," about the 1965 Reese-Schapiro incident; "On Bidding," written with Phillip Alder; "Contract Bridge for Beginners and Intermediate Players"; "The Bidding Dictionary"; "Practical Bridge"; "Bridge From First Principles"; "Master Bridge by Question and Answer"; "Basic Bridge in Three Weeks"; and, with his wife, Dorothy Truscott, "Teach Yourself Basic Bidding" and "The New York Times Bridge Book: An Anecdotal History of the Development, Personalities, and Strategies of the World's Most Popular Card Game."
Truscott had a keen sense of humor, as indicated by the deal below, which occurred at a home game many years ago. It was reported to the ACBL Bridge Bulletin shortly after Truscott's obituary appeared in that magazine. Truscott was South in the following layout.
| | ♠ K 10
♥ A Q J 5
♦ A 6 3 2
♣ 9 6 5 |
♠ Q J 6 4 3
♥ K 8 6
♦ Q J
♣ 10 8 2 |  |
♠ 9 8 7 5 2
♥ 10 7 3
♦ 10 9
♣ K 7 3 | | | ♠ A
♥ 9 4 2
♦ K 8 7 5 4
♣ A Q J 4 |
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| |
1♦ |
Pass |
1♠ (!) |
| Pass |
2♠ |
Pass |
3♠ |
| Pass |
4♠ |
All pass |
|
Obviously, Truscott had set up the deal - he commented to the bemused West player after play was completed that his 1♠ bid was accurate because he had one spade. North was obviously in on the joke, of course, based on the raise to 2♠ on a doubleton.
West led the ♦Q, taken by South with the king, followed in rapid succession by a heart finesse, ♦A, club finesse, heart finesse, club finesse, ♣A, heart to the ace, leaving this position:
| | ♠ K 10
♥ 5
♦ 3 2
♣ --- |
♠ Q J 6 4 3
♥ ---
♦ ---
♣ --- | |
♠ 9 8 7 5 2
♥ ---
♦ ---
♣ --- | | | ♠ A
♥ ---
♦ 8 7 5
♣ 4 |
Declarer, in dummy, ruffs the 13th heart with the ♠A as the defenders helplessly underruff, and follows with the 13th club. If West splits his spade honors, declarer discards a diamond from dummy and inserts the ♠10 when West, perforce, leads another spade. If West does not play a spade honor, dummy's trump 10 will take the 11th trick.
West can prevent the overtrick by leading a trump to start with, but the game still makes. |
