{"id":25841,"date":"2022-07-07T08:27:55","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T06:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funbridge.com\/blog\/?p=25841"},"modified":"2022-07-19T10:54:58","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T08:54:58","slug":"chess-and-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funbridge.com\/blog\/en\/chess-and-bridge\/","title":{"rendered":"Chess and bridge – Legends of the mind"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Bridge<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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Chess and Bridge are two of the leading Mind Sports and leading exponents of one can be proficient in the other. We set out to discover if we could establish a link between the two by talking to the man who tops the World Bridge Federations All Time Open Ranking List, Bob Hamman and the Women’s World Chess Champion, Ju Wenjun.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bob Hamman, who are you?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\"Bob
Bob Hamman<\/strong> \u00a9 D.R.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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He grew up in Southern California. At an early age he started playing chess and various card games. Before getting involved in Bridge, he played chess at a high level. In1957 he and 3 fellow students at UCLA won the Southern California Open Team Chess Championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon after, he was introduced to contract Bridge and immediately got hooked. He won his first major National Bridge championship in 1962.In 1969 he moved to Dallas and accepted the invitation of Ira Corn to join the Dallas Aces, the American squad that dominated the global Bridge scene and was financially supported by Corn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamman\u2019s Law is one of Bob’s popular contributions to Bridge. The adage says, \u201cIf you have a bidding decision to make, bid 3NT if it\u2019s a plausible choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

He is married to Petra Hamman, herself a Women\u2019s World Champion Bridge player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1986, Bob started SCA Promotions, his own prize promotion company. The business began with a five-person o!ce. Today, SCA has 100 employees, $35 million in sales, and offices in Calgary, London and Dallas. Bob says he doesn\u2019t know why some ventures succeed and some fail. Still, it doesn\u2019t hurt to love your work, or to be smart and work hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ju Wenjun, who are you?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The reigning Women’s World Chess Champion was born in Shanghai and became a full-time professional in 2004. InMarch 2017 she became the fifth woman to cross the 2600 point rating barrier and she is the 31st to hold the Grandmaster title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May 2018, she won the women’s world championship defeating Tan Zhongyi in a match, and in November 2018, she retained the title by winning the women’s World Championship knock out tournament. In January 2020, she defended her title in a thrilling match against Aleksandra Goryachkina, finally winning a four-game tie-break after the scores were tied at 6-6.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Ju
Ju Wenjun<\/strong> \u00a9 Anastasia Korolkova for UgraMegaSport<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Getting ready to compete in a major event is of paramount importance. Bob observes that bridge is a partnership game and all partnerships start with a single event. He has always been mindful that in a game of errors the emphasis has to be on the best result possible rather than the best possible result. A partnership starts with establishing agreements on common situations and expanding where appropriate. Bob has sat opposite some of the greatest players, of the original 10 ACBL life masters he played with or against 9 of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The partnerships he describes as being of significant duration were with Ralph Clark, Don Krauss, Lew Mathe, Eddie Kantar, Mike Lawrence, Billy Eisenberg, Bobby Wolff Paul Soloway, Zia Mahmood, Justin Lall, Roger Lee, Sam Lev, David Berkowitz, Bart Bramley and Peter Weichsel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Eddie
Eddie Kantar<\/strong> \u00a9 ACBL<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

He observes that System notes covering agreements for situations that seldom occur litter many disk drives on discarded computers \u2013 there are 46 relating to Paul Soloway, 47 with Peter Weichsel and 52 with Zia Mahmood. He also fitted in some successful starts with Hemant Lall, Eric Rodwell, Michael Rosenberg, Chip Martel, Mark Lair, John Sutherlin, Ron Von Der Porten, Chris Compton, Vince Demuy, Nick Nickell, Paul Swanson, Petra Hamman, and Kerri Sanborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bob notes that he has also lost many an event with many partners. So, how does he prepare? Agree on methods, bid some hands, play practice matches if possible, start up rested and finally remember that once play starts, discussion of hands for any purpose other than clarification on agreements is a time-tested method of losing. He recalls receiving a great birthday card. It read, \u201cForget about the past, you can\u2019t change it\u201d. Forget about the present, I didn\u2019t get you one\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Chess
\u00a9 Alan Light<\/a>, CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Chess players only face one opponent, but world champions have a team who help them to prepare for a game. In general, Ju checks he opponent’s recent games and prepares something in the opening, usually relating to the first few moves. She emphasizes the importance of doing this, so that you can understand your opponent’s playing style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surprisingly bridge players don’t appear to spend much of their time checking how their opponents play although you can learn a lot by studying the records of matches on BBO. The World’s leading Coach, Eric Kokish makes a point of analyzing potential opponents playing styles before every major event.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Spirit of Competition<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bob says he has no recollection of being competitive before the age of seven, other than ‘the goal is to beat the bastards’. On the other hand, Ju says she has always been competitive, and is constantly searching for ways to improve and build up advantages that will help her to win games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chess, bridge, or both?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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When we ask if a champion in one of these two mind sports can become a champion in the other Bob observes that it might be possible to migrate from Chess to Bridge, but only if you make the move when young. Past 30 it is probably a lost cause. He has not seen any example where a championship bridge player has tried to migrate to chess. Ju thinks it would be very difficult because of the differences – her estimate being that it would take a lot of hard work and at least a decade.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Chess<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

When we discussed the possibility of attempting to play both games at the same time at a high level Bob said that he had for a while, but the trajectories were in opposite directions…<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

When he retired from competitive chess at 26, he had gone from the inexperienced skilled player, who would develop advantageous positions against more experienced players and then make an inexplicable blunder to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory to a crusty, old veteran who, on occasion would be the recipient of the same sort of gift. In at least 80% of the bridge events that his pair or team had won, at some point in the event an opponent, if he\/she had been able to fog a mirror, they would have been packing their bags and calling a cab. Ju hasn’t tried to play both games – she describes bridge as very interesting game – but has yet to find a partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The strategy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It occurs to us that these great champions might be able to apply the same spirit of strategy in their lives. Bob points out that in chess you have no partners and many opponents. In bridge, you have a maximum of five partners at any one time. In one\u2019s life, it is seldom advantageous to have a large number of opponents. Ju says there good qualities in chess that can also be useful in life, especially concentration and never giving up in adversity. When we mention how far ahead a player must look Bob points out that in playing or defending a hand of bridge, you have fewer decisions, once you know the sample space, while Ju, who professes to be an amateur at bridge, says she tries to think of the cards that remain before making a play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The psychological dimension<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\"Psychology<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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When thinking about the possibility that patience and reflection prevail over direct ‘action’ Bob mentions that analysis is your friend in both games, while deception is of limited value in chess. Ju thinks patience is important because a chess game could last for many moves and it is usually a question of turning a slight advantage into one big enough to win the game, it being it is important to seize the chance when it comes along.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Artificial intelligence<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When we turn to the question of artificial intelligence Bob says that compared to chess, so far bridge software is weak. However, one day in the not too distant future, it will beat any human. Ju points out that it is a different experience, in that AI is very accurate in calculation and will not make mistakes. When selecting moves it usually chooses the best one, while a human player tends to opt for those that match their preferred style of play, particularly if that is one their opponent does not enjoy. She observes that AI has the ability to self learn and has been improving<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The rewards<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The prize fund for the Women’s World Chess Championship match was Euro 500,000. Because the match went to tie-breaks, the winner received 55%, the loser 45%. The fund for Magnus Carlsen’s next defence of his title is likely to be Euro 2,000,000. The prize for winning the Bermuda Bowl is zero, but there are numerous tournaments with significant prizes and if you play on a sponsored bridge team, the rewards can be considerable. As a professional chess player, Ju receives a monthly salary from the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tips from champion<\/strong>s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Finally, it is hard to keep all the stars aligned, don’t crater when you get hit by a pitch. In any event, it is better having your partner make fewer mistakes than you, than the other way around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ju says she owes everything to faith in her ability, effort and her team. You must believe in yourself and put together a good team that will help you to improve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The essential attributes of a Champion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We inevitably wonder if our subjects posses some master weapon of the mind that turned them into champions? Bob says there is no magic potion. The necessary ingredients on a scale of 1-5 are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n