N°42 • OCTOBER 2023

In long tournaments a loss of concentration, combined with fatigue, can result in what the tennis commentators refer to as ‘unforced errors’ being made. The Franco-Polish chess Grandmaster Savielly Tartakower famously coined the phrase that can equally be applied to bridge, ‘The mistakes are all there, waiting to be made’. As systems become more and more complex the strain on the memory becomes significant and it is almost inevitable that at some point a player will forget an agreement and do something disastrous during the bidding phase. The English international David Kendrick describes this misfortune as ‘a clerical error’. Some players who use relay systems have devised a method of solving the problem of forgetting the appropriate response. An unexpected jump to 4♦ becomes an ‘end signal’ asking partner to bid 4♥ after which the next bid will select the final contract. It is not unknown for players who suffer an unmitigated disaster to ask for the details to remain unpublished, paying no heed to the rule that there is no such thing as bad publicity. Having conceded a penalty of -2000, the Rabbi Leonard Helman cautioned me ‘if you publish that deal I’ll never play with you again’. ‘Tempting Rabbi, very tempting’ was my enigmatic reply.

Remember, your next disaster may be just around the corner!

Number 42 – Monthly – October 2023 – Director of publication Olivier Comte – Publisher Éditions de Presse Spécialisée Le Bridgeur – WOJO – 43 rue Camille Desmoulins, 92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux – France –Executive Director Karine Meyer-Naudan – Editorial Committee Michel Bessis – Muriel Clément – Philippe Cronier – Mark Horton – Vincent Labbé – Norbert Lébely – Karine Meyer-Naudan – Assistant Editor-in Chief Vincent Labbé – Editorial Secretary Muriel Clément– Adverts Bridgerama+ Muriel Clément +33142962550 –Subscriptions +33142962550–ArtDirector IsabelleLeSquer-Fontaine/Maya- mayatom@me.com – Translation Monika Kummel – Legal Deposit october 2023, N°7.680 – Joint Committee – 1118 K 85690 – ISSN 0184-8127.