From: sater@cs.vu.nl (Hans van Staveren)
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge
Subject: report 19 from the EBL juniors
Date: 26 Jul 92 12:19:45 GMT

Just after lunch I type in this report about round 22. Wow, what a round.
I was a director in the closed room and nothing happened over there, but
I was consulted four times, three times about the Vugraph match
Italy-Great Britain. What a thriller.

The first case:

brd 5	K Q J 10		NS: GB
N/NS	J 10 5
	K Q
	K 10 6 4		W	N	E	S
A 8 6 2		9 7 4			1NT	p	p
K 8 7 2		6 3		dbl	p	2C	dbl
7 3 2		A J 8 5		rdbl	p	2D	dbl
A 7		Q 9 5 2		all pass
	5 3
	A Q 9 4
	10 9 6 4
	J 8 3

The trouble only started at South's double of 2C. He explained it as
penalty (?) and North as takeout. 2D went for 300. Italy complained, we
let the score stand. After West's double of 1NT they have done well
enough. Director's are free, appeal committee's are not.

Next:

brd 16	K 7 3			NS: GB
W/EW	K 6 4 3
	10 7 4
	J 7 5			W	N	E	S
A 5		Q 10 9 8 2	1H	p	2C	3C
Q 9 8 7 5 2	A J		3H	3S	dbl	all pass
A J 9 8		K Q 5
6		10 3 2
	J 6 4
	10
	6 3 2
	A K Q 9 8 4

The trouble was that both East and West alerted the 2C, but East did it
in such a way that North didn't see it. North thought his partner had a
twosuiter in diamonds and spades, and consequently bid 3S. GB complained,
we changed the score to EW 4H made.

The coup de resistance, and quite possibly the ruling of the tournament:

brd 20	A J			NS: Italy
W/All	7 6 5 2
	Q 5 2
	J 6 4 2			W	N	E	S
Q 9 5 4 3 2	10 8 7 6	1S	p	2S	dbl
A K Q 10 8	-		3H	dbl	3S	4H
10 7		K J 8 6 4	dbl	all pass
-		10 7 5 3
	K
	J 9 4 3
	A 9 3
	A K Q 9 8

The tension on both tables was enormous, and here something unbelievable
happened. EW were not a regular partnership, West thought they played
short suit trials, and East thought there was no agreement. east was
probably right. Now at West's second turn to call he psyched a short
suit trial, or so he thought, but at the other side it was explained as
"No agreement, probably natural". North doubled (?), and South
understandably bid 4H. West must have thought he was in heaven, but it
only went for 500. Italy complained. We ruled that the double from North
was strange, and that had South received the correct answer, the one
from East, he would undoubtedly also have bid 4H. Result stands.

We had complaints from Italy about GB's behaviour, and the other way
around, the match in the open Vugraph room ended late, and all in all
this was not a friendly match. As far as I know there were no appeals.

The results:

Lithuania - France		 4 - 25
Great Britain - Italy		21.5 - 7.5
Belgium - Romania		14 - 16
Poland - Ireland		19 - 11
Denmark - Turkey		18 - 12
Finland - Hungary		21 -  9
Sweden - C.I.S.			12 - 18
Greece - Germany		10 - 20
Norway - Iceland		19 - 11
Netherlands - Portugal		17 - 13
Israel - Estonia		25 -  2
Austria - bye			18 -  0

which leads to the following top 5:

1. Germany	 403
2. Norway	 399
3. Italy	 393.5
4. Poland	 382
5. Great Britain 378.5

I have heard rumours that Germany revoked, costing them 3VP. If that is
going to cost them the title...

For my country the tournament is over. A bye in the last round will
probably make them end on place 9 or 10. A bit disappointing.

	Hans van Staveren
Newsgroups: rec.games.bridge