We have travelled across the Atlantic Ocean to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Prior to the opening of the South American Championships later this week, there are four days of top-class bridge to determine which countries will be representing the continent at the World Championships in Morocco later this year. These trials are being held in four categories; Open, Women, Mixed and Seniors. Ten South American countries are eligible, although not all ten have entered teams in each category.

The format is a round robin of nine or ten 16-board matches. In a change to the announced format, there would be no playoffs, and the leading two teams will qualify automatically for seats on the flight to Marrakesh.

As usual, we begin with some problems. With both sides vulnerable, you are East holding:

What action, if any, do you take?

Next, with only your opponents vulnerable, you are sitting East with:

What action, if any, do you take?

While you mull those over, we begin our coverage in the Open category. Only five countries have sent teams to contest for a place in the Bermuda Bowl; Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay. We start with the Round 1 meeting between Colombia and Chile.

Gonzalo Guridi (left) made his international debut representing South America in the Junior Teams at the 2015 World Youth Championships. He has since made numerous appearances in the Chile Junior team. His best result so far has been reaching the quarter-finals of the 2018 World Championships. Stepping up into his nation’s Open team, he is now bidding for his first appearance in a Bermuda Bowl.

Faced with the first of this week’s problems, Guridi settled for rebidding his diamonds at the three-level. Juan Fernando Cuervo won the opening spade lead with the king and switched to a trump. Guridi won in dummy with the ♦A and led a heart to the king and ace. South could have won the second round of hearts with the ten to play a second trump but, with the ♥Q falling, declarer only needs one ruff. E/W +130.

A lack of alerts and explanations in the VuGraph records means that we cannot be sure exactly what happened in the replay…

North did not come in at this table, so Jorge Andres Barrera got his hearts into the auction with a reverse. Most top partnerships play a convention that enables responder to show a weak hand in this auction. (Responder starts with a 2NT Lebensohl-type bid to show any weak hand.) Playing this method, West’s 3♦ bid would then show more than a minimum response. It seems unlikely that Fernando Villalba chose to show extra values if he had a choice not to, so we can conclude that 3♦ was weak and non-forcing. Nevertheless, Barrera liked his hand enough to think he could make game despite this partner’s discouragement. Jack Smith doubled to express his disagreement with Barrera’s valuation.

The Chilean was proved right. Despite ace to three trumps and a ruffing value in dummy, declarer was still a trick short. E/W -200 and 8 IMPs to CHILE. Just a couple of deals later, the same auction reappeared. These were the E/W cards:

This was the auction at the table where the Colombians sat E/W. West went through the 2NT relay to show a weak hand. It would seem to me that this East hand is too strong to make a non-forcing bid. Indeed, as you can see, 6♦ is not such a bad spot. However, with trumps breaking 4-1, declarer could make only 11 tricks. Even so, E/W +150 was still a missed game.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for the Chilean E/W pair) the Vugraph record from the other table is missing. Suffice it say that E/W climbed all the way to 7♦. That had a loser in each red suit: E/W -100 and 6 IMPs to COLOMBIA.

COLOMBIA won the match 30-18. With Brazil and Uruguay drawing in the other match, that win put COLOMBIA top of the table at this early stage.

Round 2 saw the first meeting of the two pre-tournament favorites, Brazil and Argentina. How often do you hear partner open with a strong/artificial 2♣, only to look down and find that you have been dealt a strong 1NT opening? You would expect that even most pairs playing in a local club game would manage to reach the top spot, so it would surely prove to be no problem for players at this level…

A very experienced international player, Joao-Paulo Campos (right) first represented Brazil in the Junior Teams at the 1991 World Youth Championships. Playing with Miguel Villas-Boas, he was a member of the Chagas team that reached the final of the 1998 Rosenblum Cup, and of the Brazilian team who were the beaten finalists at the 2000 Bermuda Bowl.

Adriano Rodrigues opened with a strong 2♣, and Campos waited with 2♦. Rodrigues showed long diamonds via a 3♣ transfer and Campos again waited. When Rodrigues then limited his hand with 3NT, Campos showed his slam interest with 4♦. A 4♥ cue-bid was followed by Blackwood from Campos. When his partner showed all four aces, Campos withdrew all of the cards from his bidding box. Declarer had 15 top tricks: E/W +2220.

At this table, the Argentine West began with a natural 1♦ and then reversed into hearts. When Ricardo Poleschi forced with a fourth-suit 3♣, Ricardo Angeleri bid out his shape with 3♠. That was apparently enough for Poleschi, who clearly intended 4NT as Blackwood (although whether it should be is rather doubtful). Again, East discovered all four aces opposite, so he bid a grand slam, but Poleschi chose to do so in spades.

Not in itself fatal with East as declarer, South led a heart. After winning with dummy’s ace, would you not expect even the rawest of beginners to draw four rounds of trumps and then start cashing winners? For an experienced international player to play three rounds of trumps, blocking the suit and ending in dummy is truly remarkable. When Poleschi attempted to get back to his hand to draw the last trump, a diamond looked to be the safest route. That’s when the Argentine roof fell in, as South ruffed with his last trump to put the grand slam one down. E/W -100 and a massive 20 IMPs to BRAZIL.

It is always interesting when the contacts at the two tables are a long way apart, and you cannot get much further apart than these two…

Marco Toma (left) made his first international appearance as part of the Chagas team at the 2002 Rosenblum Cup. He made his debut in the Brazilian Open team at the 2003 Bermuda Bowl, and has now been a regular member of that team for two decades. He reached the quarter-final stage of the 2018 Rosenblum Cup in Orlando.

Ricardo Angeleri opened 1♦ on the West cards. After two passes, Toma had to decide whether to reopen the auction. His robust diamond holding persuaded him that he should take his chances defending, despite the low level.

Declarer managed to overcome the bad trump break and just struggled home: E/W +70.

Having seen what happened at this table, you might therefore be surprised to find that East had to deal with the second of this week’s problems in the replay…

West also opened 1♦ at this table, but Francisco Montes de Oca decided that the North hand justified a Michaels overcall, showing both majors. Alexis Pejacsevich advanced with a 3♦ cue-bid and now Antonio Rodrigues (right) introduced his second suit. Joao-Paulo Campos raised to game and Pejacsevich battled on to the five-level in support of one of his partner’s suits. Two passes then left Campos with the problem presented at the top of this article.

Of course, it was possible for the West hand to be something like x/Ax/AKQxx/Kxxxx, which would make 6♣ cold (on a 2-1 trump break). However, in this type of situation, it is always wise to remember Hamman’s Second Law: “If you need me to hold a specific hand, assume I don’t have it”.

Campos ploughed on to the six-level more with, I suspect, hope than expectation. The defenders had a winner in each side suit: E/W -300 and 9 IMPs to ARGENTINA.

With 5♥-X likely to lose a spade trick as well as three aces, this was a very expensive misjudgement by the experienced Brazilian. Swapping +500 for -300 cost 19 IMPs. However, this deal was the only blemish on the Brazilian card as they won the match 38-9, which took them to the top of the leader-board after two matches.

We will be back in Buenos Aires soon with a look at the action from the Women’s, Mixed and Seniors qualifiers. Don’t worry: we will also see the conclusion of the Open event to find out who will be on that flight to Marrakesh.