Mir Zia Mahmood was born on 7th January 1946 in Karachi. He received most of his education in Britain, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant at the Institute of England and Wales. He initiated Bridge by an invitation to a bridge party where he wanted to impress the people. To prepare himself, he read Arthur Sheinwold’s ‘Five Weeks to Winning Bridge’ and was soon fascinated by the game. After six months of constantly reading about the game and playing it, he became truly addicted to it. Following a short family business stint in Pakistan and the UAE, he decided to take up bridge professionally in 1975.
ZIA MAHMOOD
Born on 7th January 1946
Pakistani Bridge Player
In 1977, he with some other bridge enthusiasts formed the Pakistan Bridge Association. Pakistan entered the Far East Bridge Championship in Hong Kong, where the tournament winner qualified for the World Bridge Championships. However, Pakistan’s refusal to play Taiwan, whom it did not recognize, cost those valuable points and any chance of winning. This pattern continued for a few years until 1981 when the World Bridge Federation created additional zones and Pakistan was included in the new Asia and Middle East zone. They won the zonal championship in Bangalore by beating India and qualified for the World National Team Bridge Championship, which is also called the Bermuda Bowl.
The Pakistan team consisted of 3 pairs, Zia Mahmood & Masood Salim, Nishat Abedi & Nisar Ahmed and Jan-e-Alam Fazli & Munir Ataullah. The tournament was played on a double round-robin basis with the best four qualifying for the semi-finals. Much to everyone’s surprise Pakistan finished second overall. In the semifinals, they beat the South American champions Argentina, and become the second-ever team outside US and Europe to reach the finals where their opponents were the USA.
The final was played over 96 boards of games and at the halfway stage Pakistan led the USA 95 points to 92, but the USA clawed it’s way back to victory, leaving Pakistan in second place. Zia was acknowledged as one of the stars of the tournament.
In 1982, during the World Championship held at Biarritz (France), which was held in two sections (Pairs & Teams) and in both events Pakistan despite handicaps performed wonderfully well. Pakistan secured seventh place in the Teams event although they have no separate team because of certain limitations on the number of players. It was no mean achievement and no other country from the Far East, Australia, the Caribbean and Asia & Middle East Zones could finish ahead of Pakistan. The first six places were occupied by the US & European teams where the bridge is more recognized and encouraged at all levels. No less than 10 teams alone from the USA competed in the team event. India who also sent its regular team and have more facilities could not match the performance given by the Pakistani Bridge players. The teams that finished ahead of Pakistan were France (Winner), the USA, Canada, Spain and Italy. The Championship was dominated by USA and France.
In 1983, Indian Bridge Championship was held at Calcutta (now Kolkata), where Pakistan finished runners-up. A special prize was given to Zia Mahmood for exhibiting the best defence. Bangladesh and 13 teams from India also took part and the Bombay team won the Championship. Later he participated in the Asia & Middle East Zonal Championship held at Mauritius, where Pakistan retained the title after beating India by a record margin of 175 International match points. With this grand victory Pakistan team also qualified for the World Bridge Championship (Bermuda Bowl) to be held in Sweden. During the same season Pakistan also participated in International Bridge Tournament held in Jakarta (Indonesia), where Pakistan finished second. Pakistan lost to Far East Champions Indonesia (A) by 10 points. Pakistan was placed seventh among the ten participating countries in the Bermuda Bowl.
In 1984, during the Invitation Bridge Tournament at Madras (India), where Pakistan remained third with 142 victory points followed by France placed fourth with 137 victory points. In the World Bridge Championship at Seatle (USA) Pakistan in the team event put up another impressive performance and lost in the quarter-final. Poland won the Championship.
In 1985, at the Asia & Middle East Zonal Championship held at Karachi, Pakistan completed a hat-trick when they defeated India 301-193 in the five-set game final.
In 1986, Team ‘Mahmood’ led by him and comprising Zia Mahmood & Jane Alam Fazli and Nishat Abedi & Nisar Ahmed again upset all predictions to reach the finals and finish as runners-up in the World Bridge Championship held at Miami (USA).
In 1987, at the Asia & Middle East Zonal Championship held in Colombo (Sri Lanka), where Pakistan won the Championship for the record fourth time. Pakistan beat Mauritius by a wide margin and has qualified for Bermuda Bowl Championship. Later in the Championship which was held at Ocho Rios (Jamaica), the Pakistan team finished third in its round after losing by 10 victory points and failed to qualify for the semi-final. Overall out of 14 matches, Pakistan lost 3, drew 1 and won the rest of the matches.
In 1989, during the Asia & Middle East Zonal Championship held in Cairo (Egypt), where Pakistan’s team lost their 64-board knock-out semi-final match to Egypt by 144-106 match points and thereby made an unceremonious exit from the team championship.
In 1990, he added another title to his long list of achievements when he won the Omar Sharif International Individual Bridge competition held in Atlanta (USA). During the World Bridge Championship held in Geneva (Switzerland), he along with Masood Salim finished 26th in the Pairs Bridge. In the team event out of 202 teams, Pakistan finished in the last 32 teams.
In 1991, at the Asia & Middle East Zonal Championship held in India, Pakistan was the winner. This is the fifth time that Pakistan has been able to attain the Championship. Pakistan beat Egypt by 12 International match points. In the Bermuda Bowl Championship held at Yokohama (Japan), Pakistan put up their worst performance and made an unceremonious exit from the Championship while finishing seventh in the eight-team group after the completion of 14 matches in the round-robin league.
In 1992, during the World Bridge Championship held at Salsomaggiore (Italy) where Pakistan finished seventh spot with 483 points.
In 1995, he won the prestigious Cap Volmac World Invitational Bridge Tournament held in Holland. He achieved this unique hat-trick winning with his USA-based partner Michael Rosenberg.
In 1997, he put up his worst performance ever during the Golden Jubilee International Bridge Championship held at Karachi by finishing 53rd with a 53.59 per cent score.
Besides these successes for Pakistan, Zia has subsequently represented the USA as well in both these tournaments winning the Bermuda Bowl in 2009 after placing second in 2007. In the Rosenblum Cup, he also finished second with the US team ‘Nickell’ in 2010.
He was the 10th highest-ranked World Grand Master in Bridge. He has won over 50 leading International tournaments including Team, Pairs and Individual competitions.
He received many awards during his International career. He was declared American Contract Bridge League Player of the year in 1991, 1996, 2000, 2005 & 2012. He was announced Personality of the year in 2007 by the International Bridge Press Association. He won the Best Bid Hand of the Year (Romax Award) in 1983 & 1987 and Best Defended Hand of the Year (Precision Award) in 1995. He also won the Mott-Smith Trophy in 1991 & 1996 and Herman Trophy in 2005 & 2012. He was made Honorary Member of the Year by American Contract Bridge League in 2006 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007 by American Contract Bridge League.
He is also the author of his biography ‘Bridge My Way’ which was published in 1991. He also used to write a weekly column for The Guardian Newspaper until January 2012, when the paper stopped covering the bridge.