Борис Шапиро

(22.08.1909 — 01.12.2002)

     Boris concentrating hard on a hand in the World Championships and relaxing after winning the Gold Cup in 1998.
     The bridge world mourns the passing of one if its most colourful, irreverent and irrepressible bridge players. Boris Schapiro almost defies description – he was a ruthless and brilliant bridge player, an intimidating opponent who, despite a sometimes cantankerous exterior, had enormous charm and warmth. He was a force to be reckoned with at any bridge table, a force that did not lessen with age.
     Boris will certainly be rememberd as one of the all time greats in bridge, still winning world championships at the age of 89, when in partnership with Irving Gordon he took the Senior Pairs World Title in Lille in 1998.
     Born in Riga, Latvia, his family of wealthy horse traders fled the Bolsheviks and finally arrived in England where they had business interests at the end of the First World War. Boris was educated at Clifton and at various universities, including the Sorbonne in Paris. He started playing bridge during his school days when the game helped to supplement his income, but it was only after the Second World War that he started playing in earnest.
     In a career that spanned six decades, Boris won the Gold Cup 11 times, the European Championships four times and the Bermuda Bowl in 1955. He came second in the World Teams in 1960 and the World Pairs in 1962 as well as winning the Times Invitational Pairs in 1964 and coming second in the same event in 1991 at the age of 81.
     Boris Shapiro’s first Gold Cup win was in partnership with the late Iain Macleod, the future Conservative Cabinet Minister and author of the book “Bridge is an Easy Game”. Two years later, the partnership with Terence Reese was formed, and this was to become one of the best known and most feared partnerships in the history of bridge. They won four European Championships in 1948, 1949, 1954 and 1963 and, in 1955, the Bermuda Bowl, the World Open Championship. They were second in the World Teams Olympiad in 1960 and the World Open Pairs in 1962 when Boris also won the World Mixed Teams playing with Rixi Markus, Nico Gardener and Fritzi Gordon. He and Reese went on to win the Sunday Times Invitation Pairs in 1964.
     In 1965, when playing in Buenos Aires, Reese and Schapiro were accused of using finger signals to give information about the heart suit, and although a thorough enquiry held by the British Bridge League determined that no advantage had been gained, Schapiro decided that the time had come to retire from the arena, only coming back to Championship bridge as a veteran player. He was runner up in the Sunday Times Invitational Pairs in 1991. 1998 was a particularly successful year for Boris, as he won his 11th Gold Cup and the South African Championships as well as the World Senior Pairs.
     Irving Gordon has described Boris as being emotional, loyal, true-hearted, excitable, well known to scream and shout, but not afraid to apologise and make his peace.
     In 1968 he became bridge correspondent of The Sunday Times, a post he held until his death. He was made an honorary Life Member of the English Bridge Union in 1998 in recognition of his immense contribution to the game.
     He is survived by his wife, Helen, whom he married in 1970, forming another strong and durable partnership.