RixiI Markus (1910‐1992) née en Autriche, celle qui déclarait sans complexe qu'à l'âge de quatre ans elle jouait déjà mieux que ses parents, a commencé par remporter les titres européens et mondiaux sous les couleurs de son pays natal.

La montée du nazisme et l'Anshcluss l'obligèrent à fuir l'Autriche et elle put profiter de la légendaire hospitalité britannique.

Elle a poursuivi, sous ses nouvelles couleurs une brillante carrière comme joueuse de partie libre et de compétition, raflant, avec sa partenaire Fritzi Gordon, une moisson de titres par paires et par quatre pour le compte de la Grande‐Bretagne.

En 1975, elle fut décorée de l'ordre de l'Empire britannique et fut la première femme à obtenir le titre de Grand Master.

Dans un univers où les femmes n'étaient pas forcément les bienvenues, sa vitesse d'exécution à la carte lui valut le surnom qui figure ci‐dessus.

Son bridge se résume dans le titre de son ouvrage « Bid Boldly, play safely » : « Annoncez hardiment, jouez prudemment ».

Par sa témérité et sa technique sans faille, Rixi Markus occupe une place privilégiée au sein d'une galaxie de championnes dont s'enorgueillit, à juste titre, le bridge féminin britannique.

Rixi Markus (1910 – 1992) was a British international bridge player. She won five world titles, and was the first woman to become a World Bridge Federation Grandmaster. She was appointed MBE for contributions to bridge in 1974.

Markus was born as Erika Scharfstein into a prosperous  Jewish family in Gura Humorului, Bukovina (now in Romania).

In 1916, her family fled, ahead of the Russian advance, settling in Vienna. After finishing school in Dresden she returned to Vienna, where she first made her name at the bridge table. Married young, and disastrously, she devoted herself almost entirely to bridge.

In 1938, she fled Austria after German forces entered Vienna (the Anschluss). Rixi then made her home in London, where she remained for the rest of her life. She worked as a translator for the Red Cross during World War II, and became a naturalised British citizen in 1950.

Rixi's husband also came to London. He fought her efforts to gain independence in every way he could, and fought her for custody of their daughter Margo.Divorce was not simple in those days, but Rixi obtained a judicial separation. She described in her autobiography three subsequent long-term relationships with men: first Standish Booker, a leading bridge player, then Wash Carr (Walter Copley Carr) of the News of the World, and lastly Harold Lever (Lord Lever), a senior Labour Party politician.

Brilliant, intense and argumentative are amongst the mildest adjectives used to describe her presence at the table.

She became the protégée of Dr. Paul Stern of the pre-World War II Vienna Bridge Club, the inventor of the Vienna System of bidding. Soon she was one of the top women players, and played for Austria in 1935-1937, winning the European title twice and the Women's World Championship in 1937. Both Rixi and Stern escaped (separately) to London, Stern having burnt his boats by returning his World War I Iron Cross to the Nazi High Command accompanied by an insulting letter. In 1950 Markus qualified to play for Britain by virtue of her naturalisation.

Her first partnership in Britain was with Lady Doris Rhodes, a quality player who had played in the 1933 match between 'Pops' Beasley's British team, and the Culbertson team. They played together in the European women's team championship of 1951 (Venice), and 1952 (Dun Laoghaire or Dunleary), winning both times, and in a 1953 tour of the USA where they played in two victorious matches against the USA ladies team.

However, it was Rixi's partnership with Fritzi Gordon in the European championships of 1955 (Amsterdam) that led to her dominance of the female game in Europe. Excitable and voluble, their post-mortems could often be heard many tables away. She was the same when partnered by any of the great male players such as Boris Schapiro or Giorgio Belladonna; but her friends knew her to be generous and loyal.

 Markus' attitude to Gordon was made clear in her autobiography: "As early as 1945 Paul Stern pointed out Fritzi Gordon to me, saying 'There is the partner for you.' I was not enthusiastic. For one thing, I already had a more than satisfactory partner in Doris Rhodes, a good friend, and for another I suspected that Mrs Gordon and I would not hit it off socially, whatever we did at the table. My opinion did not change when she played at the Hamilton Club and I got to know her better. [But] as far as bridge is concerned, I have not a word of complaint about Fritzi Gordon, for she was a wonderful player and an excellent partner, who contributed greatly to my own success." 

"In 1969 we were robbed of victory in Oslo [European championships] by the inefficient and ludicrous handling of a technical offence. After we had been declared winners and the results posted on the notice-board a protest about late play early in the match was made. The event ended in complete confusion, but in 1970 the official program listed France as the 1969 champions." 

Markus was for many years the bridge correspondent of The Guardian and after 1975 the London Evening Standard, and wrote a dozen bridge books, including her autobiography. Generally recognized as the top European woman player, she was the first woman to become a World Bridge Federation Grandmaster and was the leading woman in the WBF master point rankings from their inception in 1974 until 1980. She was named International Bridge Press Association Personality of the Year in 1974, and was appointed MBE for contributions to bridge a year later. For many years she organized an annual match between the two Houses of Parliament.