[fhacker]

In the 1961 Bermuda Bowl Eugenio Chiaradia led the singleton 9 of diamonds against the French contract of 6NT. In 1992 Alan Truscott called this the most disastrous lead in world championship history, as it permitted declarer to make 6NT. Forquet went down in 3NT at the other table. I have been searching for the actual hand, but have been able to find it. Can anybody provide the actual hand? Thank you very much.

[Zelandakh]

A little harsh to call it the most disastrous given the outcome of the match. If you believe the American players of the day, the lead was probably down to a miscommunication.

Unfortunately the online hand database appears not to have any hands from the 1961 BB and I do not have another link. My suggestion would be to write to PhilKing privately. He has a very large, searchable hand database and might be able to locate the hand record for you.

[The_Badger]

hi Frank, (fhacker)

http://www.nytimes.c...dge-497892.html

I found the article, but I'm sure my bridge colleague, Alan Truscott - I corresponded with him a few times about the Bermuda Bowl in 1965 - would be horrified to know that the bridge diagrams to accompany his articles do not seem to be archived at all. I wonder if anyone noticed while Alan was still alive?

I expect that any newspaper reprints would be from this archive material, so that doesn't help either. I've spent a few hours as I was previously into information forensics trying to solve this dilemma. No luck whatsoever. I'm going to spend a few more hours on this as I don't want to be beaten. But, at this stage, I have drawn a blank

[fhacker]

On 7/24 I made a post about an unfortunate opening lead by Chiaradia in the 1961 Bermuda Bowl. This lead allowed the French declarer to make 6NT on a hand where Forquet went down in 3NT at the other table. I had been unable to find the hand. Thanks to Zelandakh and thebadger for their responses and tries to help.

I wish I could report that the story has a happy ending, but unfortunately it hasn't.

I asked for help from the ACBL museum and one of their people tried very hard to uncover the hand -- to no avail. There was a book published covering the 1961 Bermuda Bowl. Italy vs. France was the only match omitted. There also doesn't seem to have been any contemporary magazine coverage, and books on bridge disasters don't have it. I had high hopes for Bridge a la Une a book in French by Jose Le Dentu, published in 1964. No luck there either.

One of the respondents mentioned writing Phil King, but I am not familiar with him. I would like to give him a try, but I need more information. Thanks to anyone for whatever help he or she can provide.

[The_Badger]

Hello again Frank,

Tried everything, including using Google Translate - to see if any Italian bridge books would solve this puzzle. Nothing yet. However, Henry Francis and Brian Senior, both bridge players and bridge journalists, published a book in 1999: Bermuda Bowl. The All Time Best Deals. (Maybe you have this already?) Anyway, available on Amazon.com for just a cent (you read that right!) + postage.

However I would view this as a start as Henry Francis is the author of the Encyclopaedia of Bridge too, and therefore a person possibly to contact. Where did he get his archive material for his Bermuda Bowl book I would ask? Is that Chiaradia hand amongst it? (Possibly not used) Etc.

Will give it a few more hours myself to see if I come up with anything else. If I do, I will post again.

[Zelandakh]

fhacker, on 2016-August-03, 20:50, said:

One of the respondents mentioned writing Phil King, but I am not familiar with him. I would like to give him a try, but I need more information. Thanks to anyone for whatever help he or she can provide.

Phil is a poster here, albeit not so often these days, and this is a link to his profile. If you do not get a response here, I think he is more active over on Bridge Winners now and some of the other posters here (inter alia gordontd, jallerton, gnasher and FrancesHinden) could probably get a message to him directly if you asked nicely.

[The_Badger]

hi Frank,

Success! Found it in an old English Bridge magazine.

http://s3-eu-west-1....ine/2000-02.pdf

Page 31 of 53. Article by David Bird (who commentates on BBO matches)

And yes, I agree, probably the worse lead in World Championship bridge history

[The_Badger]

The_Badger, on 2016-August-04, 03:28, said:

hi Frank,

Success! Found it in an old English Bridge magazine.

http://s3-eu-west-1....ine/2000-02.pdf

Page 31 of 53. Article by David Bird (who commentates on BBO matches)

And yes, I agree, probably the worse lead in World Championship bridge history

Not sure if the pdf address pasted will work (it looks abbreviated).

If not, enter into Google "Chiaradia Bermuda 1961" and search "Images". The English Bridge Union Magazine appears in the 5th row, 2nd column "Snap, Crackle and Pop at the Seniors". Download pdf and find page 31

[avonw]

You can also see it here - a Steve Becker column:

https://news.google....38,305710&hl=en