We are in Buenos Aires, Argentina for the upcoming South American Championships. Before that, though, come 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 only a handful have entered teams in each category.

The format is a round robin of nine or ten 16-board matches. At the end of the round robin, the leading two teams will qualify to represent South American this summer in Marrakesh.

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

What action, if any, do you take?

Next, with neither side vulnerable, you are sitting South with:

What do you bid?

Next, with only your opponents vulnerable, you hold in the East seat:

What action, if any, do you take?

Finally, with both sides vulnerable, you are South with this collection:

What action do you take?

We previously saw the opening forays in the Open event. On this, our second visit to these qualifiers, we turn our attention to the other categories. There are only four teams competing in the Seniors; Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Chile. After two matches, Argentina have already established a small lead over Colombia. The Round 3 matches suggested that may well be how things finish. We step in to visit the match between Argentina and Brazil.

One of the most experienced of all South American players, Pablo Lambardi (left) made his first international appearance in the 1982 Rosenblum Cup. He made his debut in the Argentine Open team at the 1984 World Team Olympiad and he remained a permanent fixture in his country’s line-up for more than three decades. He was a member of the Argentina team that reached the quarter-finals of the 2005 Bermuda Bowl and the Last 16 of the same event four years later.

I can’t say that I agree with Lambardi’s choice on this deal. With such good playing strength, there is surely a not insignificant chance of making a slam, despite the singleton in partner’s first suit. However, it’s hard to argue with the success of Lambardi’s pre-emptive action. Ten tricks were makeable on just about any line of play, and a successful diamond guess guaranteed eleven. Of course, Lambardi got the diamonds right: E/W +650 and what you might think would be a flat board.

Jose Nader responded with the ‘normal’ 1♠. From a Brazilian point of view, this had the unfortunate effect of allowing North easy entry into the auction. Once Ernesto Muzzio had bid his clubs, the Brazilians were always struggling. Rafael Chalom introduced his second suit and Hector Camberos raised pre-emptively to the five-level, leaving Nader with the first of this week’s bidding problems.

There are two ‘winning’ actions. One is to double, collect your +500, and settle for a small loss on the deal. Nader could also have flattened the board by choosing to play in his strong six-card suit. However, with five-card support, it is hard to criticize Nader’s decision to compete in his partner’s second suit.

When Camberos led his singleton spade, declarer had no chance in 5♦. If he wins and plays a trump immediately, South wins with the ♦A, crosses to his partner’s hand in clubs, and receives a spade ruff to defeat the contract. Chalom had an easy counter to that, and he cashed two high hearts, pitching the club from dummy, apparently breaking the defenders’ link for the ruff. A club ruff then returned the lead to dummy, and declarer correctly guessed the trumps. However, a third round of hearts now allowed Muzzio to overruff with the ♦Q, and Chalom ruffed the spade return to nip the contract by a trick: E/W -200 and 13 IMPs to ARGENTINA.

The Brazilians might have felt a little unlucky to lose a game swing on this board, but it was indicative of the match as a whole, with the home side blitzing their giant neighbours 63-5 over the 16 deals. With Colombia defeating Chile 16-4 in the other match in this round, the top two teams had already opened a considerable gap in the Seniors event.

Let’s now take a look at what is happening in the Mixed. This competition features the same four countries that are contesting the Seniors and, here too, it is Argentina leading Colombia in the early stages. Let’s dip into the Round 4 meeting between Argentina and Chile to get a flavour of the event.

The match began with a deal on which it was not easy for N/S to stop safely in game:

Once Pierre Pejacsevich had opened 1♦ on the North cards, it was almost inevitable that his partner would insist on slam. Maria Mayorga forced to game with her 2♣ response and then rebid her seven-card suit after Pejacsevich had shown a balanced hand. North’s raise then left Mayorga with the problem posed at the top of this article. She could have messed around cue-bidding, but was she ever going to discover anything useful? Indeed, perhaps the primary argument against her jump to 6♣ is that she would have missed an easy grand slam opposite the right 14 count.

West led the ♥K and, having avoided any potential diamond ruff, the contract was now virtually on the spade finesse. The play was straightforward: Mayorga won the heart lead with dummy’s ace, cashed the top clubs, and took the spade finesse. When West produced the ♠K, declarer claimed one down. N/S -50.

Although still a junior, Camila Yanez (right) was a member of the Chilean Mixed team at the 2022 World Championships. She had made her international debut in the Chile Youngsters (Under-21) team at the 2017 World Youth Championships. Since then, she has been a regular member of Chile’s youth teams in various categories. At the 2019 World Championships, she was a member of the Under-26 Women’s team that reached the quarter-finals.

For the Chileans, Francisco Basoalto opened with a weak (12-14) 1NT. Yanez transferred to clubs and then showed a heart void. That information might have deterred Basoalto, but I suppose he was entranced by the two high honours in his partner’s long suit. He cue-bid hearts and, after Yanez's 4♠ cue-bid, he rolled out Blackwood. When Yanez showed only one ace, Basoalto might perhaps have been persuaded that this was not a slam hand. A pass of 5♣ would certainly have brought home the bacon. However, he ploughed on to slam, compounding the error by choosing to play in notrumps rather than clubs.

On a heart lead, 6NT has no play at all. However, the bidding had surely warned Laura Ferrero that declarer was well-prepared for a heart, so she tabled the ♠3. Now declarer had a chance if the spade finesse worked, so he had no choice but to put in the queen. West won with the ♠K and switched to the ♥K, so declarer settled for claiming the nine tricks he had on top: N/S -150 and an exciting 3 IMPs to ARGENTINA.

Unfortunately, the rest of the boards in this stanza did not live up to the potential of that first deal, and ARGENTINA emerged with a 16-10 victory in a rather dull match. With COLOMBIA beating Brazil 49-3 in the other match in this round, ARGENTINA slipped into second place approaching the midway stage of the round robin, but there was only 1 VP between the leading two teams, who were both a country mile ahead of the remaining two.

Finally, in this visit, we will take a look at the action in the Women’s qualifying competition. Here, four teams (Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela) are vying for two places in the Venice Cup in Morocco. After four of the nine matches in the round robin, BRAZIL have opened a substantial gap at the top of the table, while ARGENTINA and CHILE are fighting it out for second place. We jump right into the Round 5 meeting between BRAZIL and ARGENTINA.

I felt rather embarrassed to even pose the third of this week’s bidding problems. I certainly wouldn’t have presented it as a problem to the BBO bidding panel, as I am sure that our experts would vote unanimously for a takeout double of North’s weak 2♠ opening.

Ana Alonso’s pass will sometimes be right, but it is far too conservative in today’s game, where everyone bids whenever conceivably possible. Indeed, this Argentine team should be really wonderful defenders because, judging from the evidence of this deal at both tables, they must spend most of their time watching their opponents play the hands. Paula David scrambled eight tricks in 2♠: E/W -110.

Isabella Vargas de Andrade (left) made her debut in the Brazilian Women’s team at the 1995 Venice Cup and she has now been a regular member of that team for the best part of three decades. The team’s best performance came at the 2012 Olympiad, when they reached the quarter-finals.

In this room, Ana-Lia Smalinsky was the Argentine who, holding the North cards, chose to Pass rather than bid. The Brazilians had to bid three suits before they found their fit but, with the auction to themselves, that was not a problem. With six-card club support, Vargas jumped to game in the minor at her second turn.

South led a heart, dummy’s queen winning. Declarer cashed the ♦A, ruffed a spade, cashed the ♥A for a diamond discard, and merrily crossruffed her way to eleven tricks. E/W +400 and 11 IMPs to BRAZIL.

BRAZIL won the match 41-28, but their lead at the top of the table was reduced by CHILE, who moved into clear second place with an 88-13 victory over VENEZUELA. In Round 6, it was the turn of CHILE to take on the leaders.

Early in the match, both South players faced a variation on this week’s final bidding problem…

Sylvia Mello (right) is the most experienced member of this Brazilian team. She made her international debut at the 1980 World Team Olympiad and she was a member of the Brazil team that collected bronze medals at the 1981 Venice Cup. If Brazil qualifies, as it looks very likely they will, when she plays in Marrakesh, Mello will have represented her country at the Venice Cup in five different decades – a truly remarkable achievement.

On this deal, Paula David (quite rightly) opened 1♣ on the North hand, and Adriana Deik overcalled 4♠ on her eight-card suit. The favorable heart position and a winning club guess (which declarer would surely get right after East’s pre-empt) means that declarer can make twelve tricks in either hearts or clubs. Even so, Mello’s double is surely the pragmatic choice on this South hand.

Mello led a trump and declarer could score no more than seven trump winners. N/S +800.

At the other table, the Chileans did get to slam. However…

The Chileans were clearly on different wavelengths here, so perhaps this is a situation worth discussing with your regular partner to ensure that it is not a mistake you will make.

It would seem that Odette Yanine intended her 5♠ cue-bid as inviting her partner to pick a slam. Perhaps she thought that 5NT would be agreeing diamonds and asking for top trumps. On the other side of the table, Monica Yussem clearly thought 5♠ agreed diamonds and, presumably, assumed that 5NT would be ‘pick a slam’. Suffice it to say that whilst the defenders’ cards lie well enough to allow twelve tricks to make in clubs or hearts, the 6-1 trump break put paid to any chance in the 4-2 diamond fit. Declarer managed to make eight tricks: N/S -400 and 15 IMPs to BRAZIL.

BRAZIL won the match 36-19 and, two-thirds of the way through the round robin stage, they look to be heading for qualification. With VENEZUELA already well detached from the pack, the other two teams will fight it out for the second spot on the flight to Africa.

We will be back in Buenos Aires soon with the best of the action from the final matches to decide who will represent South America in each category.