Saga of a controversy

Disclaimer –

  1. I am an aggrieved party. By that very fact, my account can deemed to be biased. I freely admit that, wherever views are presented, they belong to either those I was able to converse with, or mine. And especially my views are absolutely personal, have no official standing, have no endorsement from a third party. And while I have tried to be as objective as possible, tried to base the views on facts of law, policy and procedure, it is possible that they have been influenced by my position.
  2. By no means do I claim this article to chronicle the complete and completely accurate history of events. These are based only on the information and data I have access to, or that has been shared with me. There is quite possibly, communication that I am not privy to, and that has relevance – even impact.
  3. Since the incident involves me directly, I believe I have the freedom to share the incident. There is no intent to disparage, disrespect or defame anyone. I have sought legal opinion and have been assured that this is not a breach of players’ code of conduct. 

With these provisions clearly stated, let us set the stage.

The background

We are in the 4th and final set of quarter finals of Interstate championship, a closely contested match between team Delhi A , and Team TNBA A.

After a 2D (explained to be multi) opening by my RHO, opponents landed in 5Sx making, a defence was possible. Director was called citing misinformation, and in the process of fact gathering by the director, the opponents CC was consulted. As soon as I saw the information given in CC, I informed the director that I believed the convention they were playing was a brown sticker convention as per the definition in BFI system policy. I also contended that the relevant information, that made the convention a brown sticker, was never shared in the current, or earlier instance which made it misinformation. The director went off to verify my claim. 

Two boards later, they again opened 2D, at which point I again called the director with the contention that I can not be required to play against an illegal convention, without any chance to prepare defences. The director agreed and skipped the board.

Subsequently, director adjusted the boards and applied procedural penalties for each instance of usage of an illegal convention. This, afaik, was strictly according to the law (law 12 and 86) and BFI system policy.

The opponents requested a review of the ruling – and this is where things begin to become interesting

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7 thoughts on “Saga of a controversy

  • August 30, 2021 at 10:25 PM
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    I have two questions / observations

    1. If the convention was a variation of “Multi” , why are a team of top experts creating such a furore about playing against it. If this convention is so difficult, then why is “Multi” being allowed even in the league stages against moderate opponents. Either “Multi’ Should be stopped ( I am personally not in favour of doing so) OR variations should be allowed without categorising them in different stickers.

    2. When the convention card has been submitted, now to put the onus on players to know the finer points of the “Stickers” law, and to self declare “Brown sticker convention” to me, seems unfair. If this is the challenge faced by a team of known top experts , I shudder to think of the perils – that ordinary teams will face – in terms of penalties (and that too retrospectively) because they are playing a convention that is suddenly deemed as HUM or Brown sticker.

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    • August 31, 2021 at 2:26 AM
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      Kiran what is being sought by you here ?

      1. A feedback to BFI ? I guess not since you ought to have used official BFI channel for feedback ; you have chosen a public blog .

      2. Gathering public support to persuade BFi to conduct tournaments better in future – I am inclined to rule this out in view of your huge sponsorship clout that’s more than adequate in this pursuit

      3. Seeking public shoulders to cry on – I cannot believe this from my reading of your character in the past 35 years

      4. Venting anguish in public – this looks increasingly a possibility. If so you have created a precedence ! Many players feel similarly angry daily on their perceptions of unfair actions from Authorities- mostly Directors . If they start their own public venting …. BFI will have an issue on their hands

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      • August 31, 2021 at 9:10 AM
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        In the chat group I saw kiran forwarding the link so I assumed the post was by her – in the sleepiness of wee hours. I realise now it is by Sandeep
        I am sorry , I wish to change name addressed by me to Sandeep
        My sincere apologies to Kiran

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        • August 31, 2021 at 11:23 AM
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          PS,

          Since you ask, my purpose in going public is to try and bring fairness and transparency to the process.
          Everyone is aware that often when perception is of being wronged, but law and processes are followed properly, I have frequently stood up in favor of authority, even if it’s a hugely unpopular stand.

          In this particular case, I tried my level best to get an acknowledgement of responsibility through official channels, and in every instance the door was shut firmly in my face.

          However, I hope you and others will agree, that even though you have benefitted in this episode, you would not, in future want to be at the mercy of an individual’s views, especially when the views are illegal and autocratic.
          My purpose in writing this blog was to bring the affair to public sphere, in the hope that this will lead to the federation in understanding that accountability can be demanded of them by those they represent.

          Perhaps it’s a pipe dream. I haven’t the clout to force my view. And if public opinion isn’t swayed I have only axed my own legs. But then being unpopular has never worried me, never will. Miscarriage of Justice always will, no matter who the victim is.

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  • August 30, 2021 at 10:54 PM
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    As per law, you can’t have a weak opening bid without a known suit. That makes it brown sticker
    A 2 minor bid showing weak in either major is an exemption granted to this law.

    The law also says that if you have more than one weak options, you must have a known 4+ card suit that’s common to all weak options
    Eg it’s okay to have say 2c as only h or h + m or 4h + longer side suit. They all have h in common.
    But you can’t have say 2c as weak in d or both majors. There’s no common suit.

    The method played by opponents, according to their CC , said weak in either M, may have both M.
    This option if may have both M adds to the meaning of multi (either major) by adding the possibility of ekren to it.
    That’s what makes it brown sticker as per the definition above.

    This is all clearly spelled out, with example in system policy.

    So, if you intend to play something that’s highly artificial, why would you not bother to check if it qualifies. And if you can’t work it out, consult some director about it.

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  • August 30, 2021 at 11:05 PM
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    Sandeep

    1. This is your website.
    2. You have written a long article stating your point of view.
    3. Since you had left space for comments , I have commented.
    4. If it is going to be a comment and a response and a recomment, I am not interested. That is why I am not part of the Whatsapp groups and have no intention of entering into a debate with you.

    My limited point is that the furore is being created on a point of law rather than it being a very difficult convention. Bridge is already a very complex game and if all players are expected to know and follow every fine aspect of the law, then we are just dramatically increasing its complexity and that can be counter productive.

    I do wish that the Bridge community not split hairs on what to me seems like a limited technical point and that is the objective of my post.

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  • August 30, 2021 at 11:38 PM
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    Sampath,
    Yes this is my website, but it’s available for everyone who is a member to express themselves.
    And membership is not restricted.

    When you said you had two questions, I presumed you’d expect answers.
    I didn’t realize you intended them to be rhetoric.

    The basis of the conflict may have been a technical issue, but the way it was handled was a question of responsibility. And perhaps some may consider that to be of some concern.

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