I WAS sorry to read of the death of Deng Xiaoping, and naturally I am as concerned as everyone else about the power struggle now likely to ensue in China.

I am also concerned about the future in the same country for the game of bridge.

Deng Xiaoping formally relinquished all his political titles seven years ago, but as Conor O'Clery reported, he held on to the honorary chairmanship of, China's Bridge Association, reflecting his lifelong passion for the card game.

Beijing bridge circles are now rife with rumour as to who will succeed to the chairmanship, because an "honorary" post means something rather different in that part of the world than it does over here: it involves a good deal of power.

The main contender is thought to be Hu Bid Tu, a regular partner of Deng's on the Beijing city bridge circuit back in the 1980s.

Deng Xiaoping presided over some of the most ambitious reforms the game of bridge has ever seen. Traumatised as he was by the reckless games played during the Cultural Revolution, when wholesale ruffing made a mockery of the rules, Deng came to abhor chaos, and refused to participate in any tournament unless the organisation was up to his high standards.

The Cultural Revolution had left the game in tatters but by cultivating some of the less self regarding intellectuals, Deng slowly managed to revive its fortunes. His "Hundred Hearts" initiative succeeded in luring many of the more hidebound players out into the open to be rounded up and banned from the game for life. Thus was the way paved for long overdue reforms in the area of takeout doubles and unforced over ruffing.

Brutal though it was, Deng's crackdown on the corrupt Chinese bridge world marked a new stage in his country's painful struggle to adapt itself to the more fluid international game that emerged in the 1960s. At the same time he presided over periodic campaigns against spiritual pollution in the game, and bourgeois liberalisation of the basic rules.

Meanwhile Deng's long time tournament partner Hu Bid Tu won admiration from his peers, and from Deng himself, by rigorously sticking to a number of simple rules. With a singleton in responder's suit, for example, Hu would not re bid under any circumstances. He also made a point of playing as few conventions as possible, which made Hu stand out from the crowd, no small achievement in Beijing.

Deng used to laugh mightily as some of Hu's more outrageous ruffs, or at least when they came off successfully.

"It does not matter what colour the cat is", Deng would say, "so long as it catches the mouse."

Between the two of them, they caught rather a lot of mice, but it was Deng's visionary concept of one game, two systems" which guaranteed their advancement. Those who opposed Deng never quite knew which system he would use at any given time.

Deng and Hu had their greatest success on an overseas trip to London some years ago, when playing in the Macallan Pairs Championship. Aficionados will recall the crucial game played during the closing stages, so I hardly need draw up the positions here. They faced the talented Monte Carlo couple, Pierre and Maria Dubois.

At game all, dealer West, the situation was as follows: after a takeout double, with Maria Dubois asked to bid a minor suit ("Thank you, partner!"), Deng - and Hu needed a big win to have a chance of first place: now they had a golden opportunity for a major swing.

Dubois led the queen of diamonds, which Deng won with the ace in the South hand. Deng then led a club towards dummy, which Dubois won with the jack. A second diamond went to declarer's jack.

Now Deng ruffed a club, cashed the ace of hearts, ruffed a heart, ruffed another club and then a third heart to reach the point where he required three more tricks with the lead in the South hand.

When Deng led the queen of clubs, there was nothing Dubois could do. If he did not ruff, Deng would make dummy's six of spades in addition to the ace and king. If Dubois ruffed the queen of clubs, Deng would overruff with dummy's ace and then ruff a heart with the ten of spades for the crucial 10th trick!

Deng had many a good laugh later over this reversal for the much fancied Dubois pair, decribing the game as "the Great Leap Backwards." Encouraged by he turnaround, Deng and Hu then went on to a memorable outright win in the championships.