Timed out result
Somehow or other, despite the clock ticking in the left-hand window, a table runs out of time just as the opening lead is made to the contract on the last (second!) board of the round.
The ultimate result is pretty obvious - ruff of the suit led and one loser in trumps and each side suit, hence 3Hx minus 1 - but should I award this, seeing how far off completion the hand was?
Comments
As per 4.5 in https://www.ebu.co.uk/documents/laws-and-ethics/skyblue-book-2020.pdf, yes it is correct to award 3Hx-1 if the result is clear ("can be foreseen"). A weighted score can be awarded if appropriate instead, although this does require an export to EBUScore. If there are too many possible results then an artificial score of 40/60, 50/50 or 60/40 can also be given.
Yes, it's important to award a result if it is obvious; otherwise it would benefit a pair who realise they are having a misunderstanding in the auction to act slowly to ensure it times out and they get an average.