Players proved computer wrong

Press, 11 October 1982, Page 3

Players proved computer wrong

NZPA Biarritz. France Lew Stansby and Chip Martell, of the United States, yesterday became the contract bridge pairs champions of the world, but only after the correction of a cataclysmic scoring mix-up. Their score of 3088 match points when play ended, put them 31 points ahead of a Dutch pair, Anton Maas and Max Rebattu, on 305". Gabirei Chagas and Ro-

berto de Mello, of Brazil, were third on 3044, Jan and Craig Janitschke, of the United States, fourth on 3037, and Edgar Kaplan and Norman Kay, of the United States, fifth with 3035. In a finish dominated byAmerican pairs, Poland came seventh. France tenth, Britain thirteenth, Belgium fourteenth, and China, competing in its first world bridge championship, a creditable fifteenth. Stansby and Martell, a

professor of computer science, married to a daughter of the leading economist. Milton Friedman, won the crown only after they had protested against the scores announced by the world bridge federation. The United States players were convinced that their own estimate of the score was more accurate than that of the official computers. They were vindicated when it was found that an official had changed the

playing schedule to allow a disabled competitor in the separate women's series to remain seated. Unfortunately the computers were reprogrammed as if this change had been made not in the women's series, but in the open series. Thousands of calculations had to be done again, with Maas and Rebattu, previously announced as winners, being relegated to second place. Recalculation of the

women's series affected minor placings but not the winners, who were the United States pair, Betty Ann Kennedy and Carol Sanders, who scored 3062. Second were Lynn Deas and Beth Palmer, of the United States, with 3042 and third Sally Horton and Sandry Landy. of Britain. The prestigious world knock-out teams event, which continues until Saturday, has now begun.