Source: 1996 World Bridge Championships in Rhodes, Greece
At one point during the World Championships in Rhodes, Greece, there was a total power failure.
Suddenly the vugraph room was in total blackness — and so were all the playing areas. The power came on intermittently for a while after that, but there were several more short blackouts. Eventually all the games finished, but the vugraph never came back on again. Everyone had to wait until the match was over to learn whether the slam that was on the screen actually was made or went down.
That power failure reminded me of an incident at the European Championships at Ostend, Belgium in 1965. The setting was the Grand Casino Ballroom. Spectators were allowed at the tables. Screens were unknown. The Belgian organizers had provided a recorder at each table — mostly nice little old ladies — who made notes not only of the bids but also of the play.
Switzerland against Italy: Seated around the table were Jean Besse and Pietro Bernasconi (the world’s premier problem maker), and Giorgio Belladonna playing with Mondolfo. The bidding just ended with four hearts, all pass, when the lights went out.
Complete darkness, a moment’s silence, then West said: “I lead the spade ten”. “OK” said declarer, “what’s your hand, partner?” Dummy rattled off his cards, then play proceeded with the players naming the cards to each trick, ignoring the protests from the otherwise so friendly scorer: “Please, you can’t do that, you can’t do that!” Yes, the contract was made.