Blue team (bridge)
Encyclopedia
The Blue Team represented Italy
in international contract bridge
tournaments, winning sixteen world titles from 1957 through 1975. From 1964 to 1969 and during a 1972 comeback, the team comprised three regular pairs: Walter Avarelli
–Giorgio Belladonna
, Pietro Forquet
–Benito Garozzo
, and Massimo D'Alelio
–Camillo Pabis Ticci. Eugenio Chiaradia and Guglielmo Siniscalco played in early years; Dano De Falco, Arturo Franco, and Vito Pittalà in late years. The spiritual father, long-time coach, and non-playing captain through 1966 was Carl'Alberto Perroux
.
. Chiaradia, Forquet, and Siniscalco were members of that six-man team.
Soon afterward Captain Perroux undertook long-term preparations to win those events, the only major international championships at the time. United States teams were considered the best in the world after the war, and they won two more Bermuda Bowls for North America against Europe. Great Britain, France, and Sweden were also strong, and Europe won the fifth and sixth tournaments with six-man teams from Great Britain and France before Italy won again at the European level.
The breakthrough came in 1956/1957, when the Blue Team defeated Bermuda Bowl champion France in Stockholm and beat a United States team on its home ground, winning the Bermuda Bowl in New York City. The players were now Walter Avarelli, Giorgio Belladonna, Eugenio Chiaradia, Massimo d'Alelio, Pietro Forquet, and Guglielmo Siniscalco. With remarkably stable personnel, the reign of the Blue Team continued until retirement in 1969, broken only by a fifth-place finish in the inaugural, 1960 World Team Olympiad
. Twelve world team championships in thirteen years.
A large part of the Blue Team's success lay in new and inventive bidding system
s, which were often deemed quite strange, especially by conservative US circles. Losing teams sometimes even complained that the Italians had an unfair advantage using bids that were partly incomprehensible to Americans. Belladonna of Rome
and his partners played Roman Club
, a "short club" system. Neapolitans
Chiaradia and Forquet played Neapolitan Club, a strong club system
that the online bridge magazine neapolitan club attributes to Professor Chiaradia.
Both systems featured canapé
-style openings, and often light opening bids and interventions. When young, inventive and cocky Garozzo joined the team in 1960, he further developed the Neapolitan system into the Blue Club, which gained worldwide popularity in later years.
Denouement. The string of Blue Team wins lasted until 1969, when the members announced their retirement. The American Dallas Aces
team finally regained world titles for the USA in the 1970 and 1971 Bermuda Bowls, when the Blue Team was absent. The Blue Team re-formed and captured the 1972 Olympiad and the 1973 and 1974 Bermuda Bowls, each time defeating the Americans. The original Aces disbanded in 1974, and the Italians again beat the USA team in 1975. In 1976, the Bermuda Bowl was won by the USA and the Olympiad by Brazil, marking the end of Italy's dominance in the Open category.
Toward the end of their string of victories the Italians changed their lineup; Forquet, Pabis Ticci and D'Alelio withdrew, while Garozzo and Belladonna paired off, playing a version of Precision Club
modified by Garozzo and called "Super Precision". The team was no longer officially called "Blue Team", but it still managed to win.
An unusual lead. One of those featured a deal from the 1968 Bermuda Bowl
in which Camillo Pabis Ticci led the ace of clubs against a four spades contract, holding . With a singleton in partner's hand the defense won two aces and two club ruffs. According to a review by John Swanson, which gives the opponent's bidding as 1 [South], 2, 2, 3, 4 and concludes that Pabis Ticci's explanation of the unusual lead was "patently absurd". However, in earlier review by Victor Mollo and Aksel J. Nielsen, where the bidding is given as, 1 [North], 1, 2, 3, 4, they conclude "On the bidding, D'Alelio [the partner of Pabis Ticci] was hardly likely to have the A or a quick entry in trumps. The best chance to best the contract was, therefore, to find him with a singleton in one of the minors, and give him a ruff. Which minor? North's 2 bid pointed the way." However, the contemporary Sports Illustrated article (1968) collides with the bidding given by Mollo and Nielsen: "As North-South had not bid clubs, it did not seem likely that the defense would hit on the killing club ruff." Later sources note that Pabis Ticci had no reason to tell Swanson why he made the lead, and presumed the recorded: "Arthur Robinson had led the A to defeat a partscore in an earlier session and he thought it would be nice to ‘hoist him by his own petard’" given by Swanson, failed to discern this was in jest. This source also notes the discrepancy between listed bidding auctions, but fails to resolve it.
The "foot-tapping" scandal. The best-known controversy occurred in 1975, when the Bermuda Bowl was held at its home site of Bermuda. Journalist Bruce Keidan reported that partners Gianfranco Facchini and Sergio Zucchelli were touching each other's shoes under the table in an apparent attempt to relay information about their hands. Cheating is of course illegal and normally grounds for expulsion from any bridge organization. Keidan's observations, which were confirmed by several witnesses, were presented to the presiding authorities of the event, who "severely reprimanded" Facchini and Zucchelli for their activity but allowed the players to continue competing in the event. Although the Italians were allowed to stay, the Bermuda Bowl authorities placed blocks underneath the tables to prevent any further foot contact.
An anonymous accusation. Another incident occurred during the 1962 tournament. An anonymous letter written in Italian was delivered to the American coach John Gerber. He secured a translator to read it aloud, but asked the translator to stop after the first paragraph, to deliver the letter to Italian captain Carl'Alberto Perroux
, and to explain that Gerber had heard only the first paragraph. The writer had accused the Blue Team of cheating. After reading the letter to his team, Perroux suggested that the match be played with screen
s running across the tables (12 years before modern screens were introduced), but Gerber would have none of it. The goodwill engendered by this exchange inspired Perroux and his team to present their championship trophies to Gerber and the American team in what was described as the greatest act of sportsmanship in bridge history.
– Walter Avarelli
, Benito Garozzo
– Pietro Forquet
and Camillo Pabis Ticci – Massimo D'Alelio
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in international contract bridge
Contract bridge
Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...
tournaments, winning sixteen world titles from 1957 through 1975. From 1964 to 1969 and during a 1972 comeback, the team comprised three regular pairs: Walter Avarelli
Walter Avarelli
Walter Avarelli was an Italian bridge player, a member of the famous Blue Team, with whom he won 9 Bermuda Bowls and 3 World Team Olympiads in the period 1956-1972....
–Giorgio Belladonna
Giorgio Belladonna
Giorgio Belladonna was an Italian bridge player, one of the most famous in bridge history. He won 16 World championship titles with the Blue Team, playing with Walter Avarelli and Benito Garozzo...
, Pietro Forquet
Pietro Forquet
Pietro Forquet is an Italian bridge player, one of the most famous in bridge history. He won 15 World championship titles with Blue Team, playing with Eugenio Chiaradia, Guglielmo Siniscalco and, for the most part, Benito Garozzo. Apart from his excellent play, he was renowned for his nerves of...
–Benito Garozzo
Benito Garozzo
Benito Garozzo is one of the most famous bridge players in the history of the game. He has won 13 world championship titles with the Italian Blue Team, playing with Pietro Forquet and later Giorgio Belladonna...
, and Massimo D'Alelio
Massimo D'Alelio
Massimo D'Alelio neapolitan, was a famous Italian bridge player. He won 10 world championship titles with the Blue Team, playing with Eugenio Chiaradia and Camillo Pabis Ticci.-External links:* *...
–Camillo Pabis Ticci. Eugenio Chiaradia and Guglielmo Siniscalco played in early years; Dano De Falco, Arturo Franco, and Vito Pittalà in late years. The spiritual father, long-time coach, and non-playing captain through 1966 was Carl'Alberto Perroux
Carl'Alberto Perroux
Carl'Alberto Perroux was Italian contract bridge official, founder and long-time non-playing captain of the Blue Team, the most successful team in bridge history...
.
History
In 1951 Italy won its first European championship (Open teams) and lost to the United States for the second Bermuda Bowl, on home ground in NaplesNaples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
. Chiaradia, Forquet, and Siniscalco were members of that six-man team.
Soon afterward Captain Perroux undertook long-term preparations to win those events, the only major international championships at the time. United States teams were considered the best in the world after the war, and they won two more Bermuda Bowls for North America against Europe. Great Britain, France, and Sweden were also strong, and Europe won the fifth and sixth tournaments with six-man teams from Great Britain and France before Italy won again at the European level.
The breakthrough came in 1956/1957, when the Blue Team defeated Bermuda Bowl champion France in Stockholm and beat a United States team on its home ground, winning the Bermuda Bowl in New York City. The players were now Walter Avarelli, Giorgio Belladonna, Eugenio Chiaradia, Massimo d'Alelio, Pietro Forquet, and Guglielmo Siniscalco. With remarkably stable personnel, the reign of the Blue Team continued until retirement in 1969, broken only by a fifth-place finish in the inaugural, 1960 World Team Olympiad
World Team Olympiad
The World Team Olympiad was a contract bridge meet organized by the World Bridge Federation every four years from 1960 to 2004. Its main events were world championships for national teams, always including one open and one restricted to women...
. Twelve world team championships in thirteen years.
A large part of the Blue Team's success lay in new and inventive bidding system
Bidding system
A bidding system in contract bridge is the set of agreements and understandings assigned to calls and sequences of calls used by a partnership, and includes a full description of the meaning of each treatment and convention...
s, which were often deemed quite strange, especially by conservative US circles. Losing teams sometimes even complained that the Italians had an unfair advantage using bids that were partly incomprehensible to Americans. Belladonna of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and his partners played Roman Club
Roman Club
Roman Club is an artificial bridge bidding system devised in the 1950s by Giorgio Belladonna and Walter Avarelli of Italy's Blue Team. They used it to win twelve WBF World Teams Championships, three Olympiads and numerous European and National titles...
, a "short club" system. Neapolitans
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
Chiaradia and Forquet played Neapolitan Club, a strong club system
Strong club system
The Strong Club System is a set of bidding conventions in the game of contract bridge. It is classified as an artificial type of bidding system since the bids are highly codified.-Explanation:...
that the online bridge magazine neapolitan club attributes to Professor Chiaradia.
Both systems featured canapé
Canapé (bridge)
Canapé is a bridge bidding system where the second suit bid is always longer than the first. The name Canapé refers to a small bite presented before a big meal....
-style openings, and often light opening bids and interventions. When young, inventive and cocky Garozzo joined the team in 1960, he further developed the Neapolitan system into the Blue Club, which gained worldwide popularity in later years.
Denouement. The string of Blue Team wins lasted until 1969, when the members announced their retirement. The American Dallas Aces
Dallas Aces
The Dallas Aces were the world's first professional bridge team, organized by Dallas businessman Ira Corn in 1968...
team finally regained world titles for the USA in the 1970 and 1971 Bermuda Bowls, when the Blue Team was absent. The Blue Team re-formed and captured the 1972 Olympiad and the 1973 and 1974 Bermuda Bowls, each time defeating the Americans. The original Aces disbanded in 1974, and the Italians again beat the USA team in 1975. In 1976, the Bermuda Bowl was won by the USA and the Olympiad by Brazil, marking the end of Italy's dominance in the Open category.
Toward the end of their string of victories the Italians changed their lineup; Forquet, Pabis Ticci and D'Alelio withdrew, while Garozzo and Belladonna paired off, playing a version of Precision Club
Precision club
Precision Club is a bidding system in the game of contract bridge. It is a type of strong club system that was invented by C. C. Wei and used to good effect by Taiwan teams in the early 1970s...
modified by Garozzo and called "Super Precision". The team was no longer officially called "Blue Team", but it still managed to win.
Controversies
The string of Blue Team victories was also followed by some cheating allegations—mainly against "lesser" team members and none against Belladonna–Avarelli, Garozzo–Forquet, or Garozzo–Belladonna).An unusual lead. One of those featured a deal from the 1968 Bermuda Bowl
Bermuda Bowl
The Bermuda Bowl is a trophy awarded to the winners of the Open series in the World Team Championship in contract bridge and is named for the site of the inaugural tournament held in 1950...
in which Camillo Pabis Ticci led the ace of clubs against a four spades contract, holding . With a singleton in partner's hand the defense won two aces and two club ruffs. According to a review by John Swanson, which gives the opponent's bidding as 1 [South], 2, 2, 3, 4 and concludes that Pabis Ticci's explanation of the unusual lead was "patently absurd". However, in earlier review by Victor Mollo and Aksel J. Nielsen, where the bidding is given as, 1 [North], 1, 2, 3, 4, they conclude "On the bidding, D'Alelio [the partner of Pabis Ticci] was hardly likely to have the A or a quick entry in trumps. The best chance to best the contract was, therefore, to find him with a singleton in one of the minors, and give him a ruff. Which minor? North's 2 bid pointed the way." However, the contemporary Sports Illustrated article (1968) collides with the bidding given by Mollo and Nielsen: "As North-South had not bid clubs, it did not seem likely that the defense would hit on the killing club ruff." Later sources note that Pabis Ticci had no reason to tell Swanson why he made the lead, and presumed the recorded: "Arthur Robinson had led the A to defeat a partscore in an earlier session and he thought it would be nice to ‘hoist him by his own petard’" given by Swanson, failed to discern this was in jest. This source also notes the discrepancy between listed bidding auctions, but fails to resolve it.
The "foot-tapping" scandal. The best-known controversy occurred in 1975, when the Bermuda Bowl was held at its home site of Bermuda. Journalist Bruce Keidan reported that partners Gianfranco Facchini and Sergio Zucchelli were touching each other's shoes under the table in an apparent attempt to relay information about their hands. Cheating is of course illegal and normally grounds for expulsion from any bridge organization. Keidan's observations, which were confirmed by several witnesses, were presented to the presiding authorities of the event, who "severely reprimanded" Facchini and Zucchelli for their activity but allowed the players to continue competing in the event. Although the Italians were allowed to stay, the Bermuda Bowl authorities placed blocks underneath the tables to prevent any further foot contact.
An anonymous accusation. Another incident occurred during the 1962 tournament. An anonymous letter written in Italian was delivered to the American coach John Gerber. He secured a translator to read it aloud, but asked the translator to stop after the first paragraph, to deliver the letter to Italian captain Carl'Alberto Perroux
Carl'Alberto Perroux
Carl'Alberto Perroux was Italian contract bridge official, founder and long-time non-playing captain of the Blue Team, the most successful team in bridge history...
, and to explain that Gerber had heard only the first paragraph. The writer had accused the Blue Team of cheating. After reading the letter to his team, Perroux suggested that the match be played with screen
Screen (bridge)
The screen is a device used in some tournaments in duplicate bridge that visually separates partners at the table from each other, in order to reduce the exchange of unauthorized information. It is a panel made of plywood, spanned canvas or similar material, which is placed vertically, diagonally...
s running across the tables (12 years before modern screens were introduced), but Gerber would have none of it. The goodwill engendered by this exchange inspired Perroux and his team to present their championship trophies to Gerber and the American team in what was described as the greatest act of sportsmanship in bridge history.
Bermuda Bowls
- 1957, New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
(Massimo D'Alelio, Walter Avarelli, Giorgio Belladonna, Eugenio Chiaradia, Pietro Forquet, Guglielmo Siniscalco, Carl'Alberto Perroux (npc)) beat the USA by 10,150 points. - 1958, ComoComoComo is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy.It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como....
, Italy - 1959, New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, USA - 1961, Buenos AiresBuenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina, - 1962, New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, USA - 1963, St. Vincent, Italy
- 1965, Buenos Aires
- 1966, St. Vincent, Italy
- 1967, Miami Beach, USA
- 1969, Rio de JaneiroRio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, Brazil - 1973, GuarujaGuarujáGuarujá is a municipality in the São Paulo state of Brazil. The population in 2006 was 305,171, the population density is 1,969.47/km² and the area is 143 km². This place name comes from the Tupi language, and mean "narrow path". The population is highly urbanized.-Geography:Guarujá is...
, Brazil - 1974, VeniceVeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, Italy - 1975, Southampton, BermudaBermudaBermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
World Team Olympiads
From 1964 to 1969 and for the 1972 comeback, the team comprised Giorgio BelladonnaGiorgio Belladonna
Giorgio Belladonna was an Italian bridge player, one of the most famous in bridge history. He won 16 World championship titles with the Blue Team, playing with Walter Avarelli and Benito Garozzo...
– Walter Avarelli
Walter Avarelli
Walter Avarelli was an Italian bridge player, a member of the famous Blue Team, with whom he won 9 Bermuda Bowls and 3 World Team Olympiads in the period 1956-1972....
, Benito Garozzo
Benito Garozzo
Benito Garozzo is one of the most famous bridge players in the history of the game. He has won 13 world championship titles with the Italian Blue Team, playing with Pietro Forquet and later Giorgio Belladonna...
– Pietro Forquet
Pietro Forquet
Pietro Forquet is an Italian bridge player, one of the most famous in bridge history. He won 15 World championship titles with Blue Team, playing with Eugenio Chiaradia, Guglielmo Siniscalco and, for the most part, Benito Garozzo. Apart from his excellent play, he was renowned for his nerves of...
and Camillo Pabis Ticci – Massimo D'Alelio
Massimo D'Alelio
Massimo D'Alelio neapolitan, was a famous Italian bridge player. He won 10 world championship titles with the Blue Team, playing with Eugenio Chiaradia and Camillo Pabis Ticci.-External links:* *...
- 1964, New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, USA - 1968, DeauvilleDeauvilleDeauville is a commune in the Calvados département in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.With its racecourse, harbour, international film festival, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino and sumptuous hotels, Deauville is regarded as the "queen of the Norman beaches" and...
, France - 1972, Miami BeachMiami Beach, FloridaMiami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...
, USA