Commonwealth Nations Bridge Championship - Day Three (2)

Today I missed the first session, but am on the Vugraph for the other three matches today. So far we've had two and there's one to go. It's quite hard work, especially as I broke my glasses last night so am straining in contact lenses. In the break between matches I collapse with the Tournament Directors in our little common room. Unlike actually playing bridge, you're never dummy.

My first match today was SBU against South Africa 2, and I watched Gerald Haase and Victor Silverstone (in a rejigged Scottish partnership) against Peta Balderson and Jenny Gautschi. The South African ladies were very charming, and even acknowledged me at the end of the match. The Scottish veterans however got a little heated (but only with each other), which made for some good viewing. It was fascinating to see close up how someone could make a (very forgivable) mistake in defence and still be thinking about it on the next hand when he was declarer. "I couldn't have played that worse" and "I'd agree with that" was the conversation I reported. But on the next board I could visibly see the Scots pulling themselves together and Haase made a great 3NT to level the tie. The high scoring match went down to the final deal and with good defence the SBU prevailed 39-29.

In every match each team has two pairs, which play against the two pairs of the opposition in different rooms. The 'Open Room' is designed for spectators, both physical and online, and the 'Closed Room' is mostly there to compare scores between the rooms. You don't get so many people watching the broadcasts in the Closed Room. There were only 30 people today, but they enjoyed it I think and a couple of spectators thanked me for the commentary. Since there was no expert commentator I stretched myself a bit and reported on the bridge too, mostly by relaying what other kibitzers were saying to me. This needed a lot of fast typing.

I also had been given a copy of all the deals in advance with computer analysis ("Guard this with your life!") which helped me appear more knowledgeable than I was.

For the next round I watched the England pair of Phil King and Cameron Small against the other South African team with Diana Balkin and Maureen Holroyd. We are playing in the rather plush Radisson Blu hotel,and all the chairs have seat covers. The English South Cameron Small very deliberately pulled his off before sitting down. Would he replace it at the end I wondered? He didn't. At one point the lights went out, and I was able to talk about that, to give it a live feel. The expert commentator paulg (Paul Gipson) mentioned another time they'd had to finish a match by the lights of mobile phones.

I made a real effort this match to try and pick up the spot cards of the players. This is hard when declarer is running a suit, and the player furthest from you is discarding fairly randomly. Sometimes though, it really matters and you need to report it correctly.

Here's an example of where it matters:

North has got to 4♥, and East leads the ♣A. The card West follows with is crucial here to tell East to stop playing Clubs (and switch to a Spade). Initially I missed the card West followed with and just clicked the ♣4. Actually she'd played the ♣T, which I believe was encouraging for that pair. I quickly undid my play and corrected it to the ♣T. East then continued with three rounds of Clubs. Declarer ruffed the third round, drew trumps and claimed the rest for 4♥+1.

On the other table game was defeated. East and West had bid and raised Clubs, and East amazingly underlead his ♣AKQ by leading the ♣7. Declarer played low from dummy letting West rather surprisingly win with his ♣T, and return a Diamond for East to ruff. The end result was 4♥-2. This and a few other game swings meant England won the match comfortably 50-1. At my table the English didn't realise they were doing well, and when Cameron Small peeked over my shoulder at the laptop at the end of the match he was rather surprised.

Here's me in my volunteer's T-shirt and lanyard:

Commonwealth Nations Bridge Championship - Day Three

Play is yet to start on Day Three, but we're nearly half way through and the top teams are emerging. After 6/13 rounds, here's the leaders. Only the top four in each group will qualify:

Group 1 1 Canada 96.20 VPs 2 England 1 95.17 VPs 3 Scotland Chairman's 80.74 VPs 4 Scotland 80.31 VPs 5 South Africa 72.36 VPs 6 Wales 2 65.66 VPs

Group 2 1 Pakistan 2 92.29 VPs 2 India 89.01 VPs 3 Australia 80.22 VPs 4 Wales 71.58 VPs 5 England 2 70.30 VPs 6 Isle of Man 69.49 VPs

I've gone down to sixth place as I wanted to include the Isle of Man, who had a good day yesterday beating England 2 and beating Australia. I sat with them in the lobby and they were surprised and delighted at their good showing so far, and their captain joked that they had just become favourites to win the event.

Outside of the top positions Group 2 also features a close battle between two Channel Island teams, with Guernsey currently just ahead of Jersey.

Personally, I'm rooting for Singapore. This is for no particular reason apart from I'm going there next month, and they seem to be a nice team. They are currently 9th in Group 1, with some work to do. I'll be looking out for them today.

Finally, I've decided I don't like the new VP scale (my previous article on that is here). Since there are already arbitrary thresholds for when points become IMPs it doesn't makes sense to be overly precise in converting IMPs to VPs. And those decimal points look ugly.

Commonwealth Nations Bridge Championship - Day Two

Yesterday was a shorter day because of the Opening Ceremony; today the tournament is in full swing and there are four matches.

I missed the first round of matches and have just been the Vugraph Operator for the second, watching SBU against Australia. This was an interesting match as on my table we had the hugely experienced Willie Coyle and Victor Silverstone representing Scotland, against the youthful Australian pair of Pete Hollands and Ishmael Del'Monte. I met the Australian team walking home last night and they are all under 40. One of them was even wearing shorts.

It was a victory of youth over experience. At one point (Board 21) the Australians bid up to a very bold 7♦, which one commentator described as something like "exuberant", and said no other pair would bid it. Dee Harley of Australia said "Ish' will make this" and he duly did, for a massive score.

Then when it came to Scotland's turn for a grand slam they were muscled out by an Australian barrage:

East opened 1♠, South fired in with 3♥ and West bid 4♣, described as natural. North kept up the pressure with 5♥ and East bid 6♠, passed out. After the opening lead East claimed all the tricks without even showing his cards saying "I could make Nine Spades." The other Australians bid to 7NT - well done! The finals scores aren't quite in but looks like a big win for Australia.

From an operator's perspective it was a tough match as they bid and played so fast. At one point the connection went down and I had to restart the table and try and frantically enter the players' names and nationalities while keeping up with the play. They also had the annoying habit of not always following suit with the lowest possible card when not trying to win the trick. I know players like to signal but it would be a lot easier for me if everyone always played the ♦2 from ♦432.

Here's a photo of my high table and the view I get after most of the players have left. The table just beneath me is the one I would follow.

Commonwealth Nations Bridge Championship - Day One

This exciting international event is in Glasgow, and I've volunteered to be a Vugraph Operator to help people watch the match at home. Watching bridge doesn't mean watching an actual video; it would be hard to follow. Instead people watch a diagram of the complete deal (something the players don't have of course) and the diagram is updated as each person makes a bid or plays a card. That's the job of the operator. His other job is to give a sense of the atmosphere, by reporting on who's muttering to partner that he could have made that contract, who'd nipped out for a cigarette while dummy, who's called the tournament director, who's banging their head against the table and so on. Each table also has a couple of expert commentators watching who actually analyse the bridge.

This is the first time I've been a Vugraph Operator. It's actually a lot like playing on Bridge Base, but you have access to some more menus, for example allowing you to input the names and national flag of each player, and to modify the final contract if you've input it incorrectly. It was fun.

There are two featured matches in each session of bridge. The one I was working on in the morning was Scotland against South Africa. Here's a deal that produced a swing:

Board 5 Dealer North NS Vul ♠ 8 6 5 ♥ 8 4 3 2 ♦ A J 2 ♣ 8 7 6 ♠ A T 4 ♥ A 5 ♦ Q T 8 7 6 3 ♣ A 9 5 14 9 12 ♠ K J 7 3 ♥ K Q T 9 ♦ 9 5 ♣ T 3 2 ♠ Q 9 2 ♥ J 7 6 ♦ K 4 ♣ K Q J 5 4

Sime Balkin Murdoch Holroyd W N E S - - 1♣ 1♦ - 1♥ - 1NT - - -

The South African South opened 1♣, which Iain Sime of Scotland overcalled 1♦. His partner John Murdoch responded 1♥, and when Sime rebid 1NT that ended the auction. Fairly standard stuff. Of course the real fireworks were happening in the Vugraph commentary, where before the opening lead I reported "East-West put bidding away too soon; North asks for recap" and after declarer won the second round of Clubs "West puts cards down for a think. East settles back and takes off jumper". Meanwhile the match commentators (whose aliases were jacksond and mrdct, don't know their real names - but see comments below) suggested West was worth a 1NT overcall, and debated how poor a contract 3NT was.

In the other room the South African East-West did get to 3NT, with this auction:

Narunskey	Mould	Kaprey	Matheson
W	N	E	S
	-	-	1♣
1♦	-	1NT	-
3♦	-	3NT	-
-	-	-

Declarer guessed both majors correctly for nine tricks, making 3NT without any Diamond tricks at all. This was worth 7 IMPs to South Africa, the biggest swing in a very low scoring match that they finally won 14-8, leading to a narrow VP victory.

At lunch time the players all milled around the Radisson Blu Hotel and we retreated into a volunteers room. The hotel looked to be doing a good job hosting the event (as far as I could tell) apart from the odd internet glitch, which is really something that should never happen.

In this event there are 28 teams in total, representing 17 nations. See a list of participants here and photos of some of them here. The teams are divided into two groups. In each group they play a complete round robin, with the top eight going on to the quarter-finals. That means 13 rounds of round robin during the week.

In the second match of the day the featured match was Scottish Bridge Union (a second Scotland team) against the Scottish President's Team (another Scotland team).

From the President's team were Gerald Haase and Derek Diamond, who along with Iain Sime and John Murdoch from this morning, were members of the Scottish Senior Team that did so well in the World Championship I've been reading about in this book: Scotland's Senior Moments. The book is reviewed by Paul Gipson on his blog here. Paul Gipson was also one of the expert commentators at the table.

From the SBU team were Stephen Peterkin and Derek Sanders, who runs the Edinburgh No Fears bridge club (link here). It seems it's quite a small bridge community in Scotland, and going to this event and having to manually enter the names of players at the table has really helped me recognise a few people.

The match was very good natured. I learnt that Derek and Derek, in opposition here, used to play together, and I think they were part of the Scotland team that won the last Commonwealth Nations championship in 2010 in Delhi. At one point Derek Sanders was declarer in 5♠x and said he was going to surprise people here, and he passed out the double. Derek Diamond then waved the redouble card at him; apparently Derek S has a reputation for redoubling.

From a Vugraph Operator's perspective the major turning point in the match was the introduction of the air conditioning. I reported that all four players were now covered up; West in a jumper; North-South in jackets and East in a suit.

There were about 600 people watching the match online. I hope they enjoyed it. It was really interesting to me to see the little asides players made after the hands, quickly working out what might have been, and also how professional Derek and Gerald were in moving on from a misunderstanding and also from a misplayed contract.

In the end the SBU team won the match narrowly, and both teams are about average overall.

At the end of the day the top teams in each group are Canada and India.

The official Goody Bag

Start of a new Season

Team Rowan from Buchanan Bridge Club were promoted to Glasgow Division One last year. Last night we met some of the other teams in a special start-of-season curtain raiser, scored as a big Teams Match. Based on the results, we'll be back in Division Two next year.

It was the first time me and Anna had played in a few months, and before we started Anna trotted out all the usual pre-excuses about being rusty. Actually though I think we played alright, despite our team of four coming last (results here, curiously scored as 'Lunchtime Pairs').

There were a lot of flat boards, with the losses coming from not being aggressive enough in the bidding. If this is a hint of what's to come in Division One, there's going to be more bold bidding, and more doubling.

Here's one where we lost a game swing:

Board 5 Dealer North NS Vul ♠ Q T 3 2 ♥ K ♦ Q 9 4 ♣ A T 7 6 4 ♠ A 9 8 7 6 ♥ J 7 ♦ 8 7 2 ♣ Q 9 5 11 7 13 9 ♠ K J 5 4 ♥ Q 3 ♦ A K T 6 5 ♣ 8 3 ♠ - ♥ A T 9 8 6 5 4 2 ♦ J 3 ♣ K J 2

Danny Anna W N E S - 1♦ 4♥ ?

On both East deals and opens 1♦. South overcalls 4♥.

What do you bid now as West?

On my table I was West, and had that dilemma. I went for a pass. As you can see 4♥ is unbeatable, and in fact when I lead the ♠A declarer made 4♥+3 for -710. David and Heather Merriman were our team-mates. At their table the auction started as above, but this time the opposition West came in with 4♠, which is a bit wild but has the safety net of some Diamond support too. North can't really double this, and it was passed out. Despite the good Spade support in dummy it went three off, but still a good score of 4♠-3 and +150, which combined with our score meant an 11 IMP loss. Was I too meek?

By contrast, here's a hand where boldness gave us a rare gain:

Board 24 Dealer West None Vul ♠ K J 5 ♥ 8 5 3 ♦ K J 8 7 3 ♣ 9 8 ♠ 4 ♥ 2 ♦ T 9 6 5 4 2 ♣ K Q 7 6 5 8 5 18 9 ♠ Q 9 8 ♥ A Q 6 ♦ A Q ♣ A T 4 3 2 ♠ A T 7 6 3 2 ♥ K J T 9 7 4 ♦ - ♣ J

Danny Anna W N E S - - 1♣ 3♣* ?

1♣ promises at least four, and 3♣ was alerted as "both majors and strong".

What do you bid now as West?

With a singleton in both major, and excellent Club support, I decided to go for it, with 5♣. Then on the way to the bidding box I decided to upgrade, and pulled out 6♣. Maximum Pressure. North was having none of it and bid 6♠. This was doubled by Anna and passed out.

6♠x-2 gave us +300, a good score. How would we have done in 6♣? I bid it as an advanced sacrifice, but with Anna's balanced 18 count it's actually pretty close. South claimed he would have underlead his Spades to get a Diamond ruff which would put it one down; but we'll never know. Without that unlikely lead you can make it, and around the room people playing in Clubs were making 12 tricks.

After that temporary high we had a bit of a slump, which I attribute to my overheating and Anna denying herself any biscuits.

Success at the seaside

Me and Anna were on our summer holiday in Suffolk last week, and revisited the Sole Bay Bridge Club in Southwold. Anna made her usual complaints about not having played for ages but actually it was fine, she defended well and was dummy for most of the hands anyway. Here's one she did get to play:

Dealer South EW Vul ♠ Q x ♥ K x ♦ A Q J x x ♣ A K x x ♠ A ♥ Q J T x x x x ♦ K x ♣ J x x 19 11 7 3 ♠ K x x x x x ♥ A x x ♦ x x ♣ x x ♠ J x x x ♥ x ♦ x x x x ♣ Q x x x

Danny Anna W N E S - 1♥ x 1♠ - 3♥ x 4♥ - - x - 5♣ - - -

West opened 1♥ and I was sitting North with 19 points. I doubled, planning to bid NT later. When it got back round to me it was at 3♥, and I doubled again. Next time it was at 4♥ and I doubled a third time, this time expecting that I could beat 4♥. Anna finally cracked though and removed my double by sacrificing in 5♣. I'd accuse her of hogging the bidding, but this was virtually the only hand she played.

5♣ actually went pretty well, and Anna lost just two Spades and a Heart for one off. How would 4♥x have gone? To beat the contract I need to cash my ♣A, see Anna encouraging, then cross to her ♣Q and she plays a Diamond through. Not sure if we'd have managed that or not. Our score on the hand of -50 points was worth exactly 50% of the matchpoints, as on every other table East-West played the Heart game and half of them made it. It's good bidding from everyone sitting East-West to get to a decent 4♥ with only 18 points between them.

Me and Anna had a pretty good run in defence. The highlight was when the opposition scrambled into a dodgy looking 2NT and I doubled on principle. They ran to 3♥, which Anna was happy to double with six of them. The lowlight was when I had to get up and stretch after an auction because I had cramp from swimming in the sea.

Finally here's a hand where I thought I was being clever, but actually I was being foolish:

Dealer South EW Vul ♠ Q 9 x ♥ x x ♦ K 9 x ♣ A Q T x x ♠ x x x ♥ K J x x x ♦ x x x ♣ K x 11 7 9 13 ♠ A J x x ♥ Q x x x ♦ J x x ♣ J x ♠ K T x ♥ A x ♦ A Q T x ♣ x x x x

Anna Danny W N E S 1NT - 2NT - 3NT - - -

I opened 1NT and Anna raised to 2NT with exactly 11 points. I should have passed but made a poor raise to 3NT. West lead a Heart which I won with the ♥A because if I duck it will be obvious to them to continue Hearts next time. Things are looking bleak.

I played a Club up to dummy and West immediately played the ♣K. I beat this with the ♣A and had a think. It was clear to me at the time that West had a singleton ♣K, so Clubs were only going to give me two tricks before I let the opposition in. I figured if I kept playing Clubs I would lose one Club, four Hearts and one Spade, for 3NT-2. So I cunningly decided to play on Spades now, so that I could collect a Spade, four Diamonds (hopefully), one Heart and two Clubs for eight tricks and get out for 3NT-1. This would actually be an OK matchpoint score as I'd tie with everyone in 2NT-1. So I lead a Spade up to my ♠K, which held the trick. I then took my Diamond tricks, and when taking my Club tricks I found the Clubs were splitting after all, so I ended up with a surprise 11 tricks. 3NT+2 gave a matchpoint top, but was very lucky. If East had of seized her ♠A the defence could have cashed five tricks and I'd have gone down in a 3NT which was cold.

Thanks to the Sole Bay Bridge Club for another fun evening.

Anna lost in the Southwold Maize Maze

Coughing Scandal in Bali

The April 2014 SBU News reported that after a thorough investigation the World Bridge Federation (WBF) have found a pair from the winning Germany Senior Team guilty of cheating at the 2013 World Championship in Bali. Since then the German Bridge Federation (GBF) has also condemned them. This is the final nail in the coughin’. It is now only the Doctors themselves who protest their innocence.

Dr. Michael Elinescu and Dr. Entscho Wladow.

In this article I will look at the background, how they cheated, how they were caught, the defence, the aftermath, and what happens next.

Background

"It’s the German doctors, hold your cards up!" (David Gold)
(Spectator article)

Elinescu and Wladow have been under suspicion for many years. They play a unique bidding system which leads to unusual results, and have been accused in the past of unethically failing to explain their bids or conveniently forgetting agreements. In 2008 the Italian expert Fulvio Fantoni wrote about Wladow’s "peculiar bidding". They have also been accused of unfriendly and intimidating behaviour at the table.
(Elinescu-Wladow convention card)
(Fantoni article)

As a result of these suspicions in 2008 and 2009 they were extensively monitored by the WBF, to no avail.

How they cheated

"They are just a couple of hacks" (Eric Rodwell)
(Bridge Winners article by Mike Passell)

The World Championship was played behind screens, which makes illegal communication very difficult. With the screen in place you can’t see your partner. There’s only a slit at the bottom of the screen to pass around the bidding tray, and a small door which is opened to draw the cards from the holder and to see dummy’s cards. The screen also extends to the floor to prevent foot tapping (that’s another story).

This image is taken from a video of the event. Elinescu is leftmost in the picture and Wladow rightmost. Their opponents are from the USA2 Senior Team. The German Doctors found a way around the screens - coughing. Just after picking up their cards they coughed to show partner shortage (singleton or void) in any suit:

One cough	Club shortage
Two coughs	Diamond shortage
Three coughs	Heart shortage
Four coughs	Spade shortage

It’s a remarkably simple code, especially for a World Championship pair!

As an example, here is the hand that they have just picked up in the image above:
(WBF hand record)

F 5-12 Dealer W NS Vul	♠ T86 ♡ KQ95 ♢ – ♣ KJT932
♠ Q7432 ♡ A64 ♢ KQ72 ♣ Q		♠ AKJ9 ♡ JT ♢ AJ65 ♣ A85
	♠ 5 ♡ 8732 ♢ T9843 ♣ 764

In this deal (and all deals featured here) Elinescu is North and Wladow is South. In the video recording you can clearly hear North coughing twice to indicate his Diamond shortage and, five seconds later, South coughing four times to show his Spade shortage.
(Youtube video)

There was also a second use of coughs. When one partner was about to lead the other would cough to indicate the suit he wanted.

One cough	Lead Clubs
Two coughs	Lead Diamonds
Three coughs	Lead Hearts
Four coughs	Lead Spades

For example, in the deal above West became declarer in 6♠, meaning North was on lead. If South had wanted a particular lead he could have coughed before the first card, but as it happened on this deal remained silent so North lead a trump.

Coughing to show shortage and suggest an opening lead already gives the pair a huge advantage. But there may have been even more to the coughing code. For example, sometimes with Heart shortage they coughed once then once again, which might have been an alternative to three coughs. There is talk of a call-and-response system, where opening leader can cough for two suits, and his partner coughs back to say which one he prefers.
(Eminenti report)

Elinescu-Wladow also played several rare conventional bids which had two possible meanings. They may have used coughs to indicate to partner which version they had. For example, in one hand in the final Elinescu opened a non-vulnerable 2NT, which for them showed either both minors or just Diamonds. Wladow’s odd bidding in response suggests he 'knew' his partner had the version with just Diamonds.
(Elinescu-Wladow convention card)
(WBF hand record)
(Bridge Winners article by Eddie Wold)
(Parody of Elinescu-Wladow convention card)

There is also a strong suspicion that there was cheating outside coughs, with Wladow exploiting the time when the screen door was open to signal to partner via sweeping hand movements and touching the bidding tray. The best guess here is that the code was to sweep his hand when he had 0-5 points, and not to sweep for stronger hands. It certainly looks odd in the video. However, this and the more exotic aspects of the coughing code have not been proven. With the Doctors still denying all accusations it is unlikely the full code will ever be known.
(German Bridge article June 2014)

How they were caught

"I’m sort of the hero of the bridge world right now for having caught them, everyone’s been dying to catch them for so long" (Eddie Wold, USA2 team)
(CBC radio interview)

The World Championship in Bali began with 22 senior teams. This was reduced to a field of eight (including the Scottish Senior Team of Willie Coyle, Derek Diamond, Gerald Haase, John Murdoch, Victor Silverstone and Iain Sime) for the quarter finals. The Doctors have long had a reputation as an eccentric pair, and suspicion of them was now widespread. At this point in the tournament the USA2 non playing captain Donna Compton started keeping an eye on them.

Germany progressed to the semi-final where they beat France. Phillip Vanhoutte, of the losing French team, said afterwards that "We lost, not because they cheated, but nervousness of having to meet: during the 16 boards I played against them, I mostly wasted my time trying to dissect their code".
(Bridge Winners article by Eddie Wold)

In the final Germany met USA2, in a match of six sets over two days. At this point Compton privately asked WBF Championship manager Maurizio Di Sacco to monitor the Doctors. The request was refused as at this point Compton was offering no new evidence.

In Set 3, just before the overnight break, Elinescu-Wladow sat down against the American pair of Eddie Wold and Mike Passell. When Wladow first coughed, Wold thought it sounded a little off. Then Elinescu coughed too, and Wold thought that sounded really forced. I’ve listened to the videos and I agree that Elinescu is definitely a less convincing cougher. Wladow is at least a bit throaty.

Wold decided to keep a note of how many coughs each player made. There’s no column for recording coughs on the standard score card, so he had to improvise:

(Eddie Wold's score card)

In the DLR AND VUL column the little numbers record the number of coughs the opponent made. For example, on Board 2 the small '2' is because North, coughed twice. This is that actual deal, which shows North does indeed have Diamond shortage:
(WBF hand record)

F 3-2 Dealer E NS Vul ♠ J7652 ♡ J984 ♢ 3 ♣ QJ2 ♠ 983 ♡ K5 ♢ J65 ♣ A6543 ♠ T ♡ A732 ♢ QT984 ♣ 98 ♠ AKQ4 ♡ QT6 ♢ AK7 ♣ KT7

W N E S Pass 2NT Pass 3♣ Pass 4♠

The German auction is also unusual. Why did South (Wladow) jump to 4♠? According to Compton’s report, when Eddie Wold questioned Wladow about his 4♠ bid the response was "I thought I had responded 3♠ and my partner had passed me out"
(USA2 analysis of final)

Wold soon noticed that the coughs were coming just after the Doctors picked up their hands, or just before the opening lead. He said "The real clincher came to me when my opponent seemed to lead [a Club] instantly after getting one cough from his partner. In the finals of a world championship, everyone takes a couple of seconds to think before putting their lead on the table, but not this opponent."
(Bridge Winners article by Eddie Wold)

At no point did Wold confront the Germany Team or call the tournament director, although he admits he was tempted. Instead at the end of the Set he gave his card to his captain, Donna Compton, who then went over the hand records and fully cracked the code.

That night at their team dinner the Americans discussed what to do. Some were reluctant to continue the match. Some suggested taking an excessive amount of cough sweets to offer their opponents, or coughing themselves to either obstruct the code, or just embarrass the Doctors into stopping. Instead Compton took the score card and a spreadsheet she had made linking coughs to deals back to Maurizio Di Sacco. This time the WBF decided there was enough evidence to take things further, and Di Sacco quietly placed his assistant Manolo Eminenti as the table operator with instructions to film the next set that featured Elinescu and Wladow. This would give a unique opportunity to catch the Doctors in the act.

When the cameras arrived one of the Americans improvised and said they must be broadcasting this match live. The Doctors didn’t suspect anything and Eminenti was able to observe and document the coughing. Germany went on to win the match by a narrow margin. Mike Passell of the losing USA2 team said "It was a long last day playing against a pair we knew were cheating."
(Bridge Winners article by Mike Passell)

Shortly after the tournament Donna Compton submitted a formal complaint and request for an inquiry to the WBF. The Doctors (along with the bridge playing world) were still unaware of the allegations, and they kept on entering tournaments. For example, a month later they played in the prestigious Cavendish pairs. To gather more evidence Di Sacco had asked the Cavendish tournament director Bertrand Gignoux to observe them whenever possible. Gignoux found that on all occasions where he was at their table the coughs matched the code, including this hand were South had two shortages:

♠ 4 ♡ KQT94 ♢ 6 ♣ AJT974

"South ... coughed two times then 10 seconds later, four times."
(Cavendish report)

The WBF held a hearing in March 2014, six months after the World Championship. The key finding of their report was that the Doctors were guilty of breaking Law 73B: "...The gravest possible offence is for a partnership to exchange information through prearranged methods of communication other than those sanctioned by these Laws."
(2007 Bridge Laws).

The coughing was linked to both showing shortages and suggesting opening leads. The hand movements and touching the tray were deemed "contrary to the screen regulations" but nothing more. Elinescu-Wladow were banned from playing together in any WBF event for life, and banned individually for 10 years. They were also requested to pay the costs of the hearing. The report cleared the rest of the Germany Team and the GBF of any wrongdoing.

The defence

"I have asthma, of course I cough a lot" (Entscho Wladow)
(Speigel article - Skandal bei Bridge).

Following the WBF hearing both the GBF and the Doctors appealed the decision.

When the WBF first announced their intention to hold a hearing there were immediate objections from the GBF. These objections took two forms. Firstly, they objected to the process itself, specifically that the hearing was to be in America, that one of the panel of three was American, and that the time of the hearing was inconvenient as it coincided with their AGM. They were offered the possibility of defending themselves on Skype, but refused this.
(GBF letter 13th March 2014)
(German Bridge article May 2014)
(Video of Ulrich Wenning speech)
(GBF letter 20th March 2014)

Secondly they objected to the evidence. Their letters to the WBF say that sometimes there were no coughs or five coughs, which didn’t match the code. They query why the video monitoring was removed for Set 6. They complain that with the strong air conditioning at the event lots of people were coughing, so it would have been hard to tell where each cough came from.

There are also interesting comments on the hand above (F 3-2) where Wold claimed to have questioned Wladow about his unusual 4♠. The GBF pointed out (correctly) that this would not have been possible as Wold and Wladow were on different sides of the screen. On that same board the American West Mike Passell found an inspired defence to beat the contract. He lead the ♣A then ♡K and continued Hearts to get a ruff, gaining 12 IMPs for his team. It is tactfully pointed out that this unlikely defence is no more remarkable than the unusual plays of the German Doctors: "We do not want to assume that the successful defense in Board ... came about on the basis of violating 73 B."

What undermines the GBF protest is that it was lead by its president, Ulrich Wenning, who unfortunately was also a gold-medal winning teammate of Elinescu-Wladow.

Following the hearing the GBF provisionally suspended the Doctors. They appealed their suspension, and lost the appeal, though the process is not yet finished.
(Neapolitan Club: Provisional Suspension for Elinescu and Wladow)
(Neapolitan Club: The GBF Appeal)

After the WBF report the GBF also commissioned their own independent investigation, lead by five top German players. This included more detailed analysis of the hands and leads, and also included testimony from a bridge playing physician who distinguished between imitation and real coughs. Real coughs, it said, are "mostly accompanied by body reactions - like a red head, leaning forward/nodding, twitching etc." This investigation reported in May 2014. It was "100% convinced that unauthorized information was exchanged". It accepted that there was coughing to show shortage, but not enough video footage to link coughs to opening leads or to rule on the suspicious hand movements. This therefore reversed the GBF’s earlier position that there was not enough evidence to conclude there was cheating. The report did maintain the GBF objections to the WBF hearing. The GBF appeal to the WBF therefore remains in place. The report says that this is because "It is important for the GBF’s Executive Committee to continue to be involved".
(GBF report May 2014)
(GBF press release)

The GBF are now considering their own disciplinary procedures against Elinescu-Wladow.

It is now only the German Doctors who protest their innocence. Wladow claims the videos might have been manipulated. In an interview with Der Spiegel he protests at the length of his ban, saying "In 10 years I could already be as dead as a mouse.", and calls the sentence "eine Frechheit" (an impudence).
(Spiegel article - Skandal bei Bridge)

The Aftermath

"This is the biggest scandal the GBF was ever exposed to" (Ulrich Wenning, GBF president)
(Speigel article - Skandal bei Bridge)

In the mainstream press the story has been reported as a scandal to interrupt the otherwise sedate world of bridge. Within the bridge world there has been a re-examination of many of the old hands bid by Elinescu-Wladow, with the thought that they probably achieved their good results by foul play.

Here are two example hands from the World Championship semi-final, where Elinescu-Wladow’s odd actions can be explained by their coughing code.
(WBF hand record)

SF 5-7 Dealer S All Vul ♠ KJ73 ♡ K95 ♢ KQ ♣ K985 ♠ A4 ♡ T42 ♢ A652 ♣ AQ64 ♠ QT652 ♡ QJ7 ♢ 9 ♣ JT32 ♠ 98 ♡ A863 ♢ JT8743 ♣ 7

W N E S 1♢ x 1♠ Pass 1NT Pass Pass 2♢

The 2♢ bid by South (Wladow) is very unusual, as his left hand opponent had made a natural 1♢ opening and he knew his partner had Heart tolerance. But as Mike Passell said "The Doctors cheated on every single hand - when they didn't cough, they had balanced hands." South would have known his partner had at least a doubleton Diamond, which makes bidding 2♢ a lot safer.
(Bridge Winners article by Mike Passell).

The result was 2♢+1, gaining 5 IMPs for the Germany Team when on the other table South played 2♡–1.
(WBF hand record)

SF 6-24 Dealer W None Vul ♠ A854 ♡ 8765 ♢ 7 ♣ J954 ♠ – ♡ Q3 ♢ KQ86432 ♣ Q763 ♠ KJT97 ♡ AJ92 ♢ JT ♣ T8 ♠ Q632 ♡ KT4 ♢ A95 ♣ AK2

W N E S 3♢ Pass Pass Pass

On the other three tables South found a bid over 3♢, but here Wladow made an excellent Pass. This is much easier to do if you know partner has a singleton Diamond from his cough, and even easier if you somehow know he has a weak hand. The live commentator was baffled by the Pass: "South's decision to pass was well.....winning"

The result was 3♢–1, gaining 4 IMPs for Germany when their teammates defended 3NT–1.

Unhappy with simply cherry picking certain deals, American expert Kit Woolsey conducted an investigation to look for evidence of cheating on the opening lead. He made a systematic search of all the deals in the knockout stages of the World Championship were three conditions were met: the partner of the opening leader clearly wanted a particular suit lead; the opening leader wasn’t likely to lead that suit without help; the opening leader would honour his partner’s suggestion as he didn’t have his own suit to lead. To determine if these conditions were met he polled other experts, and came up with a list of 28 crucial hands. If the Doctors found the winning lead on those hand that would be consistent with a pair using illicit signals.
(Bridge Winners article by Kit Woolsey)

Here is an example hand which meets the criteria:
(WBF hand record)

QF 5-2 Dealer E NS Vul ♠ 7 ♡ K93 ♢ AKQ3 ♣ 87532 ♠ Q84 ♡ 7 ♢ 98765 ♣ JT64 ♠ AKJT6532 ♡ AJ2 ♢ 2 ♣ A ♠ 9 ♡ QT8654 ♢ JT4 ♣ KQ

W N E S 1♣* 2♡ Pass 4♡ 6♠ Pass

Wladow was South, and has a difficult choice of leads. There’s arguments for a trump (Spade), your suit (Heart) or from your King-Queen (Club). Only 5% of experts polled would lead a Diamond. However, now look at the North hand! With North coughing for a Diamond that lead is a lot more attractive, and Wladow found the ♢J at the table. Note that 6♠ still makes on any lead, but that is not relevant to the investigation.

A second example is the hand featured earlier (SF 6-24) where Elinescu found an unlikely Club lead to his partner’s Ace-King.

Out of the 28 hands that met Woolsey’s criteria a normal expert pair would find the unlikely winning lead by chance about 4 times. Elinescu-Wladow found it 15 times, which is statistically very significant. Of the 13 times they did not lead partner’s suit most of these are borderline cases where it’s unclear which suit you might want to cough for. But just for balance here is one counterexample where they made a bad lead which is hard to explain:
(WBF hand record)

F 2-24 Dealer W None Vul ♠ J93 ♡ 96 ♢ Q8643 ♣ 972 ♠ K ♡ KJT8742 ♢ 9 ♣ AK84 ♠ 752 ♡ AQ5 ♢ AJT75 ♣ QJ ♠ AQT864 ♡ 3 ♢ K2 ♣ T653

W N E S 1♣* Pass 1♡ Pass 2♡ Pass 4♡ Pass

For a pair with coughing signals you would expect North (Elinescu) to find a Spade lead to his partner’s strong suit. Instead he chose a Diamond. We’ll never know why!

What happens next

"We are considered by the world bridge population as the true winners, but whether we actually get the medal or not remains to be determined."(Eddie Wold)
(CBC radio interview)

There are several appeals still outstanding. The GBF are still appealing some aspects of the initial WBF hearing, and the Doctors are appealing both the WBF hearing and their ban by the GBF. There is also the matter of what disciplinary procedures if any the GBF will now bring against the Doctors.

However, for almost everyone the Doctors’ guilt is now firmly established, and the main issue is whether the Germany Senior Team will keep their World Championship title.

Donna Compton’s letters to the WBF specifically requested Germany lose their gold medals and USA2 be promoted to 1st place. This is following the Olympic charter, which the Bridge charter is based on, where if a competitor or team is disqualified everyone else is moved up one place. However, the WBF hearing makes no mention of disqualifying the Germany Team. Mike Passell of USA2 said "I found the rest of the Germany Team to be great gentleman and of high ethical standards. I will be surprised if these fine gentlemen have any interest in keeping their gold medals under these circumstances." For now though they are keeping their gold medals, and the WBF website still lists Germany as the winners.
(USA2 request for inquiry)
(USA2 formal complaint)
(Bridge Winners article by Mike Passell)
(WBF website)

Further interesting links:
(Karlkjunk article: Coughing Fits)
(Donna Compton's website: German Coughing Scandal)
(Neapolitan Club: various articles)
(Bridge Base Forums)
(Bridge Winners article of suspicious hands)