Margarine

Tonight and for the next three Tuesday evenings the Canberra Bridge Club is
holding a Butler pairs tournament. The format is a Mitchell movement, with
three 9-board matches per session. I had arranged to play with Hashmat Ali
in this event, but a few days before its start Hashmat informed me that he
had the dreaded lurgy. Therefore I had to organise a substitute for the
first session.

This I did, choosing a forgetful friend. The friend did not forget to turn
up. Instead, shortly before the starting time the friend was told  by
another player that they had entered the tournament, so the fair-weather
substitute promptly decamped.

Thus I had to get a last-minute second substitute. The new substitute
understandably arrived three boards late. But both he and I are very quick
players, so we finished the first 9-board match with time to spare.

Suppose, however, that we had completed only eight boards. Should we have
been awarded Average Minus for the board that we missed, because we were
"directly at fault" (Law 12C2)? In my opinion, no. The person directly at
fault was the forgetful "first substitute", and he was now part of a rival
contestant.

Best wishes,

Richard Hills

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