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Appeals

Appeal No 21.
Misinformation - No Damage

Open Teams Round 20
Germany v Monaco

Board 10.
Dealer East.
Game All.

Please note: Screen runs from top left to bottom right.
			2
			-
			A K Q 7 4 2
			A 10 9 7 6 4
	A K 10 9	N   W E   S			Q J 8 5 4 3
	A J 8 4				Q 6 2
	J 6				9 5
	K J 5				Q 2
			7 6
			K 10 9 7 5 3
			10 8 3
			8 3

West	North	East	South
Guglielmi	Frerichs	Gavino	Wenning
		Pass	Pass
1NT	2NT	3	Pass
3NT	Pass	4	Pass
Pass	Dble	All Pass

Contract: Four Spades doubled, played by East.
Lead: 8
Result: Ten tricks, +790 to East/West.

The Facts: Two No-Trumps showed any two-suiter, in a good hand. East's 3 was intended as a transfer to spades, and explained to North in that way.
When the tray came to the South/West side however, the following sequence of events occurred:
- South waited for an alert, which did not come;
- West asked for the meaning of 2NT;
- South wrote "any good two suiter";
- West read on the paper "4+4", which had been an explanation of a few boards earlier;
- South passed;
- West bid 3NT;
- The tray got passed through, and meanwhile West explained the 3 bid as showng a stopper.
When the tray later came back with the 4 bid, there was first some confusion, after which it became clear that West had read the wrong line. South and West then called the Director, who told them to continue the bidding.
After the play, North recalled the Director, claiming that if he had got the information that 3 showed a stopper, he would have not have doubled, but defended in Five Diamonds.

The Director: Did not see there was any link between the misinformation and the possible damage.

Ruling: Result Stands

North/South appealed.

The Players: West and South explained the happenings at their side of the screen, as set out above. West added that he did in fact alert before South was able to pass, but this was denied by South.
North explained that he had not acted over 3NT, hoping the opponents would play there.

The Committee: Was sympathetic to West's mistake. South did in fact receive misinformation, but in the Committee's view this was not damaging to South.
The Committee further concluded that North had received correct information, and that the bad result was due to his decision to double, and to South's lead, but not to any form of infraction by East/West.

The Committee's decision: Director's decision upheld.

Relevant Laws: Law 75A

Deposit: Returned, mainly due to the complexity of the problem in South/West.