In the game of 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...

, CRASH (an acronym for Color-RAnk-SHape) is a defense against a strong 1 or a 1NT opening that first appeared in an article by Kit Woolsey

Kit Woolsey

Kit Woolsey is an American bridge and backgammon player. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1964. He earned a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1965....

 in The Bridge World

The Bridge World

The Bridge World , the oldest continuously published magazine about contract bridge, was founded in 1929 by Ely Culbertson. It has since been regarded as the game's principal journal, publicizing technical advances in bidding and the play of the cards, discussions of ethical issues, bridge politics...

. Within the framework of CRASH, subsequent bids denote two suiter

Two suiter

In contract bridge, a two suiter is a hand containing cards mostly from two of the four suits. Traditionally a hand is considered a two suiter if it contains at least ten cards in two suits, with the two suits not differing in length by more than one card. Depending on suit quality and partnership...

s of the same color (black or red), the same rank (major or minor), and the same shape (pointed or rounded).

Over an 1NT opening the following CRASH overcall structure applies:

2 : two suits of the same color (+, or +)

2 : two suits of the same rank (+, or +)

2NT : two suits of the same shape (+, or +)

2 : natural

2 : natural

Following the 2, 2 and 2NT overcalls, responder will bid taking into account that out of the two possible two-suited hands of overcaller, the likely holding is in his/her shortest suits. The responses are therefore convertible

Pass-or-correct bid

In the card game bridge a pass-or-correct bid , is a non-forcing bid that asks partner to pass or bid differently based on her/his holding...

. For instance, following a 2 CRASH overcall, a responder holding 10 7 5 Q 9 8 4 2 K J 6 K 3 will bid start from the assumption that his partner holds length in the black suits in which his maximum length is a three card, rather than in the red suits in which his maximum length is a five card. Responder will therefore bid 2. Overcaller will pass holding the black suits, or bid 3 holding the red suits. In case of the latter, responder will correct to 3.

Defenses similar to CRASH, with the bids in a different order, have names such as KOSHER and SHAKER.