Reviews
of the book
The bridge
problems are excellent and presented in a novel 4-hand format.David
Bird, Evening Standard & The Mail on Sunday
'The
Hocus-Pocus trilogy is a unique selection of challenging bridge hands
and chess boards, with a sprinkle of logic problems. A must for aficionados
of mind games.Martin Hoffman
A combination
of unique bridge and chess problems. A fabulous idea, superbly executed.Andrew
Robson, The Times & Country Life
The
Hocus-Pocus trilogy is a winning concept. I enjoyed the books
immensely.Zia Mahmood
A superb mix of
bridge and chess problems, an excellent read.Tony Priday
About
the book
(from
the Foreword by Leonard Barden and introduction by the authors)
The poetic title
sterns from the convergence of two ideas. Hocus-Pocus and More
Hocus-Pocus were written by Erwin Brecher and combined bridge problems
with those involving mathematics, physics and logic, with a few amusing
stories thrown for good measure. Meanwhile, Danny Roth was writing a series
of bridge booksFocus on Declarer Play, Focus on Defence and
Focus on Bidding which highlighted problems in the three branches of
the game which are commonly mishandled. The bidding book, in particular, set
out countless examples of relatively straightforward situations in which,
incredibly, top-class names went sadly off the rails.
The recent
meeting of the two authors enabled them to combine a selection of one
hundred chess problems submitted by Erwin Brecher and a similar number of
bridge problems collected by Danny Roth. In the chess, the reader is invited
to find a brilliant continuation which was found, or in some cases missed,
by top-class players. With the bridge, the book is again a first. Whereas
most bridge books concentrate on either declarer play or defence, here hands
are highlighted in which there is scope for good play by both sides
so it is a question of on whom do you put your money? There is plenty of
excitement from start to finish. All four hands are shown and the discussion
of bidding is kept to a minimum, only appearing where it is directly
relevant to the play.
In addition to
the fact that both games feature the king and queen as principal
participants and that there are many common expressions in their language
(such as en passant, endgame, blockage and promotion), chess and
bridge have other similarities and those who play a reasonable game of one
will usually at least have the mental capacity to become proficient at the
other. A number of people are mentioned who have made it to, or at least
near to, the top in both games.
The book is
excellent value to those who play either game, offering a hundred
absorbing brain teasers but the real beneficiaries will be those who play
both; they will be able to enjoy two bites the cherry for the price of
one.
Click
here to try out for yourself some sample puzzles from the book
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