[jillybean]

On October 21, 2026, the Italian Bridge Federation’s National Sports Judge suspended Norberto Bocchi for five months and Alessandro Gandoglia for one month, with €100 in costs each. The decision was open to appeal at the time of publication.

The incident was on board 24, round 6 of the Italian Open Teams Championships in Salsomaggiore Terme on September 19, 2026. Gandoglia was declarer in 6♥ and had to find the K♠, with Bocchi as dummy.

The findings:

Bocchi: The judge found he deliberately looked at an opponent’s cards, saw that East didn’t hold the K♠, and made hand and body movements, touching dummy’s cards, that conveyed this to Gandoglia. Bocchi admitted looking at the cards and making inappropriate gestures but denied any intent to inform his partner.
Gandoglia: He wasn’t found to have used the information, for lack of proof. He was sanctioned for not reporting his partner’s conduct or distancing himself from it. He says he noticed nothing and followed his own line.
The director adjusted the score to 6♥ down one.

Does a self serving claim of a long clean record deserve a lighter sanction for a deliberate breach?

[pescetom]

 jillybean, on 2026-October-29, 08:06, said:

On October 21, 2026, the Italian Bridge Federation’s National Sports Judge suspended Norberto Bocchi for five months and Alessandro Gandoglia for one month, with €100 in costs each. The decision was open to appeal at the time of publication.

The incident was on board 24, round 6 of the Italian Open Teams Championships in Salsomaggiore Terme on September 19, 2026. Gandoglia was declarer in 6♥ and had to find the K♠, with Bocchi as dummy.

The findings:

Bocchi: The judge found he deliberately looked at an opponent’s cards, saw that East didn’t hold the K♠, and made hand and body movements, touching dummy’s cards, that conveyed this to Gandoglia. Bocchi admitted looking at the cards and making inappropriate gestures but denied any intent to inform his partner.
Gandoglia: He wasn’t found to have used the information, for lack of proof. He was sanctioned for not reporting his partner’s conduct or distancing himself from it. He says he noticed nothing and followed his own line.
The director adjusted the score to 6♥ down one.

Does a self serving claim of a long clean record deserve a lighter sanction for a deliberate breach?

I imagine you can guess what I think about a lighter sanction.
The sanction was one month lighter than what would normally have been inflicted for a similar offence.
In all other respects I think this was an exemplary reaction by the RA, not sure how it would have gone in other countries.

[jillybean]

Bocchi is the focus, but Gandoglia’s position is worth a look too. He was in receipt of unauthorized information. He wasn’t found to have used it - I wonder how they determined that, but the judge held that he couldn’t credibly have missed it, and that he should have reported it or distanced himself.
Should Gandoglia's have called the director on the spot?

[Cyberyeti]

I think looking at a defender's hand should already be finable. It's exploitable and there have been other examples (the racing cars incident)

[harikannan]

Can someone please post the hand so that we can appreciate better. Thanks.