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For some ten years beginning in Fall 1978, I moderated a column entitled "Charge Account" for the Southern California Bridge News. Each month, I posed a defensive problem to the panel. The criterion for presentation was that the error made at the table was not simply a blunder, but involved defensive communication and inference. The task of the panelists was to allocate responsibility for the disaster. Then I added my own views, which occasionally differed from those of my colleagues. The panelists varied over the years, but all of them did a great job and were not dismayed when I gleefully proclaimed them wrong. In 2013, I stumbled across a cache of the articles (alas, the collection is incomplete) and posted them here. The scanning process did not always go smoothly, so some of the articles are a little hard to read. I found that increasing the zoom helps. The defensive methods employed in those days were simpler. Fourth best was standard (parity leads had not yet been invented!), and upside-down signals were not used. Still, despite possibly improved methodology, we continue to misdefend, so the problems maintain their interest. The discussions illuminate the logic underlying accurate defense.
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