ACBL Remembers Edgar Kaplan
The ACBL Board of Directors has voted to remember Edgar Kaplan by renaming the Blue Ribbon Pairs the Edgar Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs.The action came at board meetings before the start of the Summer NABC in San Antonio and is effective with the Fall NABC here in Boston.
Kaplan (1925-1997) was a giant in the bridge world and his legacy to the game is incalculable. His career spanned six decades and covered every aspect of bridge. He was a teacher, author, editor, administrator, champion player, theorist, expert vugraph commentator, coach/captain and the authority on the laws of the game.
Kaplan was born in New York City in 1925, "a terrible year for wine but a great year for bridge players," he said in a 1996 interview.
He learned to play bridge before he was 10 by watching his parents play. He continued to play during his school years, including a brief time at Cornell University. "I didn't last there very long," he recalled. "I was mostly majoring in bridge."
He left Cornell to join the Army Air Force in 1943 and served until early 1946. When he returned from the service, Kaplan went into business with his father, a dress manufacturer.
Several years later, the elder Kaplan announced plans to retire and the son realized that "when he retired, I either had to take over the business or get out."
He chose to become a partner in the Card School of New York. "It wasn't the correct financial decision but it was better for my disposition."
Kaplan also began establishing himself as a player, writer, analyst, commentator and administrator. He won his first Vanderbilt title in 1953. "I started to get up but my knees were weak. I realized then that I had been under pressure after all."
His greatest thrill was the 1983 Reisinger victory with Oswald Jacoby -- plus regular teammates Norman Kay, Bill Root and Richard Pavlicek.
Kaplan, Kay, Root and Pavlicek had played always as a foursome but they invited Jacoby, a man they admired for his past feats and for his strength and courage in battling cancer, to join their team.
Kaplan said Jacoby had been a very good friend to all the group.
"When I was a young man he played a lot with me. Jake was very good to me when I was a kid. We'd been friends a long time and I'd played on teams with him before, but I hadn't played as a partner with Ozzie in 30 years."
Kaplan and Jacoby, along with Root and Pavlicek, played the first final session and led the field with 23 wins out of a possible 33. Jacoby sat out the second final session and his teammates scored 18 wins -- and claimed the victory. Jacoby died the following year.
In all, Kaplan won 26 North American championships but even with those impeccable credentials, he considered bridge a great leveler.
"Bridge is one of my pleasures," he said, "but bridge teaches you how to endure misery. It's not a game that can be played well -- just in varying stages of badness."
In 1979 Kaplan was named Bridge Personality of the Year by the International Bridge Press Association. He was selected as ACBL Honorary Member for 1993.
In 1995 he was inducted into the ACBL Bridge Hall of Fame and the WBF Hall of Fame.
Kaplan was the co-inventor of the Kaplan-Sheinwold system -- Kaplan and Kay listed "Timid K-S" as their general approach on their convention cards.
Their results belied the "timid" designation -- they won six Vanderbilts, two Spingolds, eight Reisingers, the 1997 Open Swiss Teams, the 1973 Life Master Men's Pairs and the 1974 Blue Ribbon Pairs.
Kaplan Quips
Quotes from the Rama Room -- as recorded by Betty Kaplan, Edgar's Boswell, at the 6th World Team Olympiad in Valkenberg, Netherlands, in 1980.
* "I don't know what North was thinking of doing, but it's just as well he didn't." * "I think he'll keep doubling them until he finally beats one." * "The difference between a brave bid and a foolhardy bid is largely a matter of result." * "That's unfair. North-South were just having a good time and suddenly East-West turned nasty and doubled." * "Four hearts is a very good bid -- but on some other hand." * "West passed, hoping his partner would double but that was too much to hope for in this world. It will happen all the time in the next world." * "If you average South's bidding on this hand (one too many) and on the previous hand (one too few), he comes out just right." * "When in doubt, put the opponents on lead. Why should you make the mistake?" * "It is always a good idea to make only six when you've missed a grand slam. The opponents don't know how good a result they have." * "Well, it was only sporting for declarer to give East his trick back." * "He may bid and he may not. I believe that covers all possibilities." * "If you're a good enough player, you can get away with making mistakes because nobody will believe it." * "That's the story of my life -- all my life, I've been setting up non-working endplays." * "Declarer could try a non-working squeeze." * "After all, East-West have a clear majority of the point count (21)." * "The defenders made 2NT so it was an accurate contract -- just played the wrong way." * "I understand some super-modernists are back to leading queen from queen-jack. They call it 'reverse Rusinow.'" * "He's preserving his options to misguess the diamonds." * "In order to let the contract make, the defenders must lead a spade. No other line of play succeeds." * "South's bid implied: I have four spades, four hearts, six clubs and the rest are diamonds." * "They avoided the trap of bidding a slam on the second hand to compensate for the one they missed on the first." * "South had five hearts and five clubs, but they were not playing five-card majors so he opened 1C." * "I don't understand how declarer made only five spades. I understand why he wanted to make only five spades: It wouldn't be so obvious then that he had missed a slam." * "To teach the opponents not to preempt against you, you must not only double them, you must also beat them." * "Some people bid 3NT over their partner's three-level suit bids on the theory that it's more dignified to go down in game." * "In his 3NT contract, declarer has seven tricks. One more from heaven makes eight and where there's eight, there's nine." * "I don't think anyone in this tournament can bid diamonds to show diamonds. We lost the club suit in the 1950s. Now diamonds are gone and hearts are sinking fast." * "Everything gets doubled in the Closed Room except when it goes down." * "If you want to bid naturally and still sound modern, just say your bid shows the suit below the suit above the one you bid." * "Now his 3D bid shows a singleton diamond. When he rebids diamonds, it will confirm a singleton diamond." * "Now he has forced North to lead away from his DK but unfortunately North didn't have it. It's called the phantom endplay." * "In the old days, you had to grit your teeth and pass with the North hand. Now you can make a negative double with the result that you go down instead of the opponents." * "East is wondering why he didn't pass 1S. So am I."
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