APPEAL no. 55 |

Appeals Committee
Chairman | Bobby Wolff | USA
Members | Jaime Ortiz-Patiño Ernesto d'Orsi Mazhar Jafri Steen Møller George Retek John Wignall | GBR BRS PAK DEN CAN NZD
Scribe | Herman De Wael | BEL

Event
1998 World Championships
Open Pairs | Final
Countries
USA | v | Sweden
Players
NS | Stansby | Martel
EW | Lindquist | Fredin
Board
Board 24. Dealer West. Love All
| ª | 7 3 2 |
© | 8 7 4 2
¨ | 9 8 2
§ | 8 7 4
ª | A 10 8 6 |  | ª | Q 9 5 4
© | A Q 6 | © | 10 5 3
¨ | Q 3 | ¨ | K 6 5
§ | A K 5 2 | § | Q 9 3
| ª | K J |
© | K J 9
¨ | A J 10 7 4
§ | J 10 6
West |  | North |  | East |  | South
1§¹ |  | Pass |  | 1¨² |  | 1NT
Dble³ |  | Pass |  | Pass |  | 2¨
Dble |  | All Pass |  |  |  |
¹ 11-13 or 17+ any distribution ² 0-7 ³ 17+
Result
2¨*-3: -500
Facts
After his second double, which was made quickly, West himself pushed the tray through.
TD's Decision
Unauthorised Information, Damage, Score changed to 60% for N/S, 40% for E/W. The Director presented to the Committee evidence of one previous occasion, on which the same player, as West, had pushed the tray through himself. For this reason the Director also gave East/West a Procedural penalty of 25% of a top.

Appellants
E/W
Players' Comments
West did not attend the meeting and the Committee told East that he should have. East explained why he passed. At worst, his partner held a singleton Diamond. The double was also consistent with a 4405 shape, but East did not consider this. He found his hand to be worth more in defence than in offence and he did not consider a game score in their direction likely. He took a long time in deciding this, but he did not think the fast double influenced him. When asked if his partner often pushed the tray, East replied that yes, he had already told his partner off on this. He called his partner 'emotional', but 'honest'.

Committee's Comments
The Committee found it not unreasonable for East to pass. However, West took a very inopportune moment to transgress on a procedure. The Committee decided, by majority, that there was indeed unauthorised information that suggested passing. The Committee felt however, that if East did not pass, he would surely push to game and the resulting score would be -450.
Committee's Decision
The Committee ruled: Assigned Adjusted Score of, N/S -450. The Committee did not rule on the Procedural Penalty but decided to investigate the matter further. In a separate meeting the Committee decided to double the penalty but leave the matter at that.
Relevant Laws
—
Deposit
Returned | X
Forfeited |

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