[blml] hesitation, less than 20 seconds

[Adam Beneschan]

Richard Hills wrote:

> >WBF general condition of contest (25.3):
> >"Law 16 (...) It is not considered that a
> >delay of some 20 seconds is sufficient to
> >convey UI".
> >
> >It seems to be clear. The TD's and the AC's
> >decision was 7D made (deposit returned). All
> >of them remarked, they didn't like it.
> 
> Richard Hills:
> 
> It does not seem so clear to me.
> 
> WBF Code of Practice appendix,
> Guidelines for Rulings, number 4:
> 
> "The request that players vary the tempo of
> returning the tray through the screen
> 'randomly' aims to avoid a situation where
> a player has needed time to think and this
> fact stands out because at other times the
> tray has always returned at regulation
> speed. At least some such situations, where
> it is possible a player could have had a
> judgement to make in the auction but did
> not take time, should be used to defer
> return of the tray in order to create
> uncertainty around the occasion when
> there has been a need for time to think."
> 
> Since both sides apparently failed to abide
> by the WBF rule of "randomly" varying the
> tempo of the tray through the screen, as TD
> I would split the score, giving EW +940 and
> NS -1440.

Unfortunately, the CoC paragraph that Laszlo mentions doesn't refer to
this guideline at all:

"Law 16 - During the auction, when playing with screens, a breach of
tempo may be identified by the slowness or speed with which the tray
is returned.  The players who receive the tray are the ones who can
speak to any abnormality.  Consequently it is an infraction if a
player on the side of the screen where the breach occurred is the
first to draw attention to it and the player forfeits for his side its
non-offending status.  It is not considered that a delay of some 20
seconds is sufficient to convey unauthorized information."

It just says flat out, any delay of 20 seconds or less is not
considered to convey UI---no reference to the above guideline, and no
indication that a shorter delay, that is still clearly out of tempo
relative to how the trays have previously been passed around, should
be considered UI.

This looks to me like a very serious omission in the WBF General
Conditions of Contest, and I hope someone forwards Laszlo's story to
them so that they can rectify this.  And then they can shoot East.

                                -- Adam