Jonathan Cansino; celebrated bridge player

[Hyfler/Rosner]

The TimesOctober 19, 2006

Jonathan Cansino
June 23, 1939 - October 10, 2006

Bridge international whose career was cut tragically short

JONATHAN CANSINO was one of Britain's most celebrated
bridge internationals until his career was cut short by a
brain tumour when he was 34. In a period - the late Sixties
and early Seventies - in which British bridge was blessed
with talent, many insiders believed Cansino to be the very
best, seemingly almost never erring at the table. With
Jeremy Flint, he was the creator of the "Cansino Convention",
a three-suited defence to a Weak Notrump opener. He was also
at the forefront (with Flint) in devising the controversial
"Multicoloured Two Diamond opener", still very popular
today.

The eldest child of Manuel Cansino and Cecile Carvalho, he
was born into a set of prominent families of Sephardic Jews.
During a half-term holiday while he was at Polack's, the
Jewish house at Clifton College, he was taught bridge by his
uncle, Robert Nunes Carvalho, and by the High Court judge
Sir Alan Mocatta. At Oriel College, Oxford, he won two
half-Blues in bridge and met Robert Sheehan, who was to
become a fellow UK international.

On his graduation from university, he was articled as a
solicitor to his uncle and then became a stockbroker for a
time. But bridge completely took over his life. Though he
had a talent for the stock market, a professional career was
hardly practical after long nights at his local club, the
Acol in West Hampstead. He played for the club, for the Home
Counties and for his country.

In 1964, shortly after returning to London from Oxford,
Cansino formed a bridge partnership with John Collings,
which (reported Christopher Dixon, a fellow bridge
international) was so successful that many felt that the
future of the British game was assured with these two
magnificently talented players. In 1965 the pair were
runaway winners of the Life Masters pairs (the Waddington
Cup), and also won the Gold Cup.

He also partnered Jeremy Flint. During the 1960s and early
1970s he repeatedly won the English Bridge Union Spring
Fours. He played in the Great Britain Open Teams in the 29th
European Team Championships, Athens 1971 (when Britain came
second to Italy's Blue Team), and the 4th World Team
Olympiad at Miami Beach in 1972, when Britain came sixth.

He had a photographic memory, a wicked sense of humour, and
the knack of reading the minds of his partners and
opponents.

Like other bridge professionals, Cansino enjoyed playing for
high stakes. In 1971 he was one of the representatives of
the professional bridge players in a delegation of three
players negotiating with the tax man. The outcome was
successful for the players. In 1970 he and Flint challenged
the film star Omar Sharif and his travelling circus of
leading European bridge players (including members of the
Italian Blue Team) to a televised game in London of 100
(later reduced to 80) rubbers. The stake was a staggering
one pound a point. The British pair lost by 5,470 points.
Fortunately the loss was covered by the London betting club,
Crockford's, which had sponsored the British team.

In 1973 Cansino survived an operation for a brain tumour,
which left him partly disabled for the rest of his life. He
was able to continue to play bridge but only as an amateur.
The illness also brought an end to his brief marriage to
Pamela Dorling. She remained the love of his life and died
later in an accident. For many years he lived with his
devoted, widowed father at the family home in St John's
Wood.

Cansino could claim descent, through his mother, from Isaac
Nunes Carvalho, a member of the same London synagogue (the
Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation), who died more
than 270 years ago.

The Jewish Chronicle has calculated that the Carvalhos are
the longest-settled Jewish inhabitants in the country, a
record disputed with the Henriques family. Through his
father, he was related to Lord Hore-Belisha. According to
the family tradition of his Pinto forebears, Benjamin
Disraeli was another relative. Among the Sephardim, these
are by no means trivial badges of identity.

He is survived by his father, brother and sister.

Jonathan Cansino, England international bridge player, was
born on June 23, 1939. He died on October 10, 2006, aged 67.