Bridge trivia

[Hanoi5]

So, checking some old books and handouts I found the answer to this question:

 

When was the first forcing pass bidding system devised?

[TylerE]

WOuldn't surprise me if it was Vanderbilt sometime in the 1920's.

[Hanoi5]

C'mon that would have been the next question, who made the first 1♣ strong system?

[mike777]

So, checking some old books and handouts I found the answer to this question:

 

When was the first forcing pass bidding system devised?

Bridge Encyclopedia says the original work was done in Poland by Lukosz Slawinski. (p.570).

[Hanoi5]

Could it be that Klinger lied?:

 

http://members.chello.nl/a.denbroeder4/REG...es/I.search.htm

 

I also have that pamphlet. That was my source.

[PeterGill]

1952 or a bit earlier . My references are below.

 

The oldest of the five Slawinski books in the ABF Library is from 1974

ref http://www.abf.com.au/about/library/librarylist.asp under S and W (wookash).

 

The Forcing Pass system Marmic dates back to the 1950s: ref

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/02/nyregion...dge-791988.html

 

or the mid 50s according to Sports Illustrated:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/art...76733/index.htm

 

Mario Franco and Michele Giovine played Marmic successfully in 1955, ref

http://www.infobridge.it/Campionati_Italiani_CO.htm.

 

also from 1955 ref http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=348&...pg=4197,3503062

 

and in 1954:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1320...pg=6625,2037745

 

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=_StcTb...stem%22&f=false

on page 180 mentions that Iceland played Marmic in 1952.

 

On page 170 of Truscott's infamous The NY Times Bridge Book, Alan Truscott plays against Mario Franco and Michele Giovine playing Marmic in Belgium in 1952.

 

Sheinwold confirms 1952: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&...pg=4716,5013925

 

Regres, Suspensor, WOR, FPR etc all came later. Ref

http://pikier.com/brydz/kronika.htm

 

EFOS did not come along until about 1970, ref

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/art...84375/index.htm

[PeterGill]

In Marmic I think Pass was a Strong Pass but not a Forcing Pass, so my answer might be wrong.

[csdenmark]

C'mon that would have been the next question, who made the first 1♣ strong system?

This was Harold Vanderbilt. According to introduction by Waldemar von Zedtwitz to the book "The Club Convention". Zedtwitz was a partner of Vanderbilt and co-inventor of the system.

 

Vanderbilt wrote four books. Three were prior to 1934, assuming 'The Cub Convention' was published in 1934.

As Vanderbilt invented bridge in 1925 the first club system must have been invented 1925-1934. Probably some before as it looks like they played the system in some form in 1932.

 

The book I have is from 1964.

[PrecisionL]

From my Bridge Library Collection:

 

Contract Bridge

 

Bidding and the Club Convention

 

by Harold S. Vanderbilt

 

Charles Scribner's Sons

New York - London

 

Published July, 1929

Reprinted August, 1929

$2.50

251 pages

 

 

An enlargement of that work:

 

The New Contract Bridge,

Club Convention Bidding and Forcing Overbids,

by Harold S. Vanderbilt, 1930, 333 pages.

[MarceldB]

Could it be that Klinger lied?:

 

http://members.chello.nl/a.denbroeder4/REG...es/I.search.htm

 

I also have that pamphlet. That was my source.

In Ebelings revolutionary Forcing Pass System the Pass is not forcing,

if responder holds a 0-3 count he should pass namely opposite the fix 13-17.

 

If you describe it as as WOS (Weak Opening System), with a fert 0-7 (1NT bid)

and a limited 13-17 Pass, he is indeed the first one.

 

See this link for review of his openingsbids and furthermore Slawinski's articles about this subject.

 

Regards,

 

Marcel