APPEAL no. 35 |

Appeals Committee
Chairman | Joan Gerard | USA
Members | Barbara Nudelman Chris Compton Herman De Wael | USA USA BEL
Scribe | Herman De Wael | BEL

Event
1998 World Championships
Open Pairs | Qualifying
Countries
The Netherlands | v | France
Players
NS | Donkersloot | Van der Wild
EW | Pacault | Szwarc
Board
Board 3. Dealer South. EW Game
| ª | K 5 |
© | A Q J 7 2
¨ | 6
§ | K J 10 8 5
ª | A 9 8 4 3 2 |  | ª | 10 7 6
© | K 9 | © | 6
¨ | Q 7 5 4 | ¨ | A K 10 9 8
§ | 7 | § | Q 4 3 2
| ª | Q J |
© | 10 8 5 4 3
¨ | J 3 2
§ | A 9 6
West |  | North |  | East |  | South
|  |  |  |  |  | Pass
2ª |  | 3© |  | 4ª |  | Pass¹
Pass |  | 5§ |  | Pass |  | 5©
All Pass |  |  |  |  |  |
¹ Disputed hesitation
Result
5©=: +450
Facts
East-West called the Director after South had bid 5©, claiming that there had been a hesitation over 4ª. The Director established that the table agreed about the hesitation. North claimed he would always have bid 5§. The play had been: ¨A, ª7 to the Ace, North unblocking the King.
TD's Decision
Assigned Adjusted Score : 4ª by West, -620 to both sides, Law 16A2.

Appellants
N/S
Players' Comments
South stated that the approximate timing on his side of the screen had been: 6 or 7 seconds for his pass, 4 seconds for West's pass, and another 5 seconds before he passed the tray, because he did not pay attention. The total timing at the other side was estimated at 25 seconds from the other side of the screen, and North agreed upon this.

Committee's Comments
The Committee wanted to establish who had called the Director. This turned out to have been East, originally. From the statements concerning the timing the Committee concluded that there had been a hesitation, and that North could have known this and should have bent over backwards not to take this into consideration. The Committee had great understanding about the bid of 5§, but felt that Pass was a logical alternative. The Committee had some doubts about the defence.
Committee's Decision
For N/S : 4ª made, -620 For E/W: -620 minus the difference in Match Points between the scores of +450 and -50. The Match Points (for E/W) for +450,-50 and -620 were 122.4, 419.5 and 523.8 respectively, so the score to E/W was 523.8 - (419.5 - 122.4)=226.7 Match Points (39.5%).
Relevant Laws
Law 16 A2
Deposit
Returned | X
Forfeited |

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