We are in Chicago, Illinois for the 2023 U.S. Summer Nationals. Having seen the best of the action from the Grand National Teams, we are now ready for the main course of these championships, the Spingold Knockout Teams. We start with the action from the Round of 64.

We are used to seeing upsets in these events, but the Top 16 seeds all made it safely through to the Round of 32 this year. The highest-ranked seed to lose was #17 HAMMAN, who were defeated 121-79 by the English/Brazilian combination, #48 TOMMASINI (Stefano Tommasini, Ben Norton, Jose Paulo Campos and Adriano Rodrigues). There were only three matches in this round that were decided by single-digit margins, the closest being the victory by Swedish/Norwegian/German squad #20 FREDIN (Peter Fredin, Martin de Knijff, Nicolai Heiberg, Thor Erik Hoftaniska, Sabine Auken and Roy Welland), who saw off #45 ROSSARD 136-133 after going into the last set 12 IMPs behind.

The action shown on BBO VuGraph from this round mostly featured matches from the middle part of the draw. We’ll pay a visit to four of them. All matches are 60 boards divided into four 15-board stanzas.

As usual, we start with some problems. Firstly, with only your side vulnerable, you are North holding:

What action, if any, do you take?

Next, with only the opponents vulnerable, you are sitting in the West seat with:

What action, if any, do you take?

If you pass, do you take any action when North’s 2♥ is passed back to you?

Next, with neither side vulnerable, you hold this hand in the East seat:

What action, if any, do you take?

Finally, with both sides vulnerable, you are in the East seat with this collection:

What action, if any, do you take?

While you consider those, we begin in the opening set of a match featuring a number of young stars of the future, #29 KOLESNIK v #36 DINKIN. Those who showed up at stupid o’clock in the morning to watch the first stanza live on BBO VuGraph were well rewarded, as there were four slam swings in the first nine boards of this match. The DINKIN team pushed their luck at both tables on this deal…

Krzysztof Jassem (left) made his first international appearance in Poland’s Junior Team at the 1984 European Youth Championships. (Also my international debut, although I don’t recall if we played against each other then.) After finishing second in the Transnational Teams at the 1997 World Championship, Jassem made his debut in the Polish Open team at the European Championships in 1999. He won a silver medal at the 2000 Olympiad, and then he started collecting gold medals: the 2013 Europeans Teams, the Rosenblum Cup at the 2014 World Series, and consecutive Bermuda Bowls in 2015 and 2017.

On this deal, Jassem opened what I would call a ‘routine weak two’ on the East cards, although in this case it showed hearts and a minor. Even so, I appreciate that it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea. After two passes, Dutch star Ton Bakkeren was thus left with the first of this week’s problems. 3NT was the pragmatic bid, and Ton’s brother, Frank, had no reason to move on the South hand.

Jassem led a heart and declarer made 11 tricks. N/S +660 and, with nothing else looking better, what looks like a reasonable board for the Dutch. But looks can be deceiving.

A mix of youth and experience, Sam Dinkin made his international debut in the USA Junior team back in 1993, while Jacob Freeman (right) made his in Canada’s Under-21 team in 2018. Freeman was then the youngest member of the Canadian Open team at the 2022 Bermuda Bowl.

Ralph Buchalter chose not to open the East hand, which left Dinkin to do so as South. (If you think this is a light opening, it’s not for this partnership, it seems, as Freeman opened a much less-shapely 8-count a couple of boards later, and by doing so kept his opponents out of a good slam bid at the other table.)

Freeman began a series of relays that enabled him to discover that his partner held a 5-0-4-4 minimum with three Neapolitan controls (A=2, K=1). He then jumped to 6♣ having revealed nothing about his hand.

As you can see, this slam is hardly a thing of beauty but, as Bob Hamman once observed, “Any slam that makes is a good slam”. Things started well for declarer when East led the ♣J. This was ducked around to the ace, and a second round of trumps went to the ten, queen and king. West exited with the ♣8 to declarer’s nine, so that was the first hurdle over. Now declarer was up to 11 tricks, which is where the benefit of playing a relay system comes in as the defenders know nothing about declarer’s shape.

Declarer cashed the ♠K and then ruffed a heart with dummy’s last trump (West signalling an even number of hearts). Now Freeman cashed the ♠A. East, who had discarded a spade on the third round of trumps, had an easy diamond discard on this trick. However, when declarer then ruffed a spade, East was in trouble. What would you discard from ♥J-9-x-x and ♦Q-J-x? Would many players even consider throwing a diamond?

When East threw a heart, declarer was home, scoring four clubs, four hearts and a pair of A-Ks in the pointed suits. A spectacular N/S +1370 and 12 IMPs to DINKIN.

KOLESNIK led 49-37 after the first set, but DINKIN then went into overdrive, winning the second stanza 61-13 and the third 64-15. Down by 85 IMPs with a set to play, the KOLESNIK team wished their opponents good luck in the next round.

In our next match, it was an experienced French team, #34 ROMBAUT, against a young American squad, #31 JOLLY. The French led 51-26 after the first set. Let’s take a look at the second stanza.

Both West players held an innocuous-looking hand on which they had to answer the second of this week’s problems. Let’s see how the very differing approaches fared.

David Grainger (left) began a decade-long run as a member of the Canadian Junior team at the 1999 World Youth Championships in Florida. He collected a bronze medal at the 2005 World Championships.

Grainger’s 2♦ is hardly the worst bid he has ever made and, indeed, was almost certainly not his worst bid of this match, but it fared disastrously. The only good news for the New World pair was that the French father/son partnership did not manage to double 2♦. Grainger dropped a trick in the play to go three down, not that it mattered much. E/W -150.

After making his debut in 2011, Baptiste Combescure (right) played a dozen championships in various French youth teams at all levels, Schools, Youngsters, Junior and Under-31 over the next decade. He won a bronze medal in the Under-21 Teams at the 2012 World Championships and a silver in the 2017 European Junior Teams. Combescure was a member of the ‘France Green’ team, which reached the quarter-final of the Open Teams at the European Winter Games last year.

On this deal, Combescure adopted the complete opposite approach to his Canadian counterpart. He passed South 2♣ overcall, waited for North to give preference to one of the Majors, then doubled 2♥. Whoa! Was that the right decision!

Pierre Franceschetti got the defence off to a good start by leading a low trump to the ten and king. Declarer ran the ♦K, pitching a spade from dummy, to the ace. Combescure cashed the ♥Q, then switched to a spade, East’s ten forcing dummy’s king. Declarer is always two down now, but cashing the ♣A was not his best move, and now he was three down. E/W +800 and a huge 14 IMPs to ROMBAUT on what looked like a nothing deal.

ROMBAUT won the second stanza 53-28 to lead by an even 50 IMPs at the midway point of the match. The margin was 70 IMPs going into the final set and, although JOLLY enjoyed a 73-29 final set, it was nowhere near enough and the French still advanced to the Round of 32 with victory by 26 IMPs.

Our next match features two multi-national teams, #22 ZAGORIN (Sweden/USA/Israel) against #43 ASHE (USA/Netherlands/Serbia). ZAGORIN led by 15 IMPs after the first set, but it was ASHE who were 11 IMPs ahead (60-49) at the midway point. Both East players faced a critical decision on variations of the third problem posed above.

Veri Kiljan (left) made his international debut at the 2015 European Youth Championships, winning the Youngsters Teams as a member of the Dutch squad. He was a regular member of the Dutch Junior team from 2016 until 2019.

On his deal, Kiljan opened 3♥ in first seat at favorable. Amir Levin’s double in the pass-out seat then left Josef Roll with the ‘play or defend?’ decision posed at the top of this article.

Roll opted to defend and led the ♠J. Kiljan won with the ace and led a trump, putting in the ♥8 when East followed low. Making use of the entry to dummy, he then played a club towards his honour combination. At the table, West rose with the ♣A on the first round of the suit but, had he not done so, declarer had already paved the way to lead clubs twice from dummy.

Kiljan lost just two clubs and a trick in each of the other suits. E/W +100 looked like an excellent result for the Dutch pair. Let’s find out just how good…

Daniel Zagorin opted for a gentle 2♥ opening on the North hand, but South raised to the three-level and Selena Pepic doubled on the West cards. That effectively left Steven Ashe (right) with the same problem in the East seat.

Ashe chose to look for the game bonus, essaying 3NT. When Pepic now continued with 4♠, Ashe re-evaluated his hand. He clearly liked what he saw, as he advanced with a 5♣ cue-bid and then jumped to slam when Pepic showed a diamond control.

Although spades was only a 5-2 fit, there was little to the play. Declarer’s only loser was the ace of trumps. Well bid! E/W +1430 and a huge 13 IMPs to ASHE to open the third stanza.

The third set finished 38-37 in favor of ZAGORIN, so ASHE still led, by 10 IMPs, going into the last set. However, ZAGORIN won the final set 41-12 to advance to the next round with a victory that was not nearly as comfortable as the 128-109 scoreline might suggest.

We finish with a match featuring one of the Top 16 seeds, #10 BAILEY (USA/Netherlands), against #55 SOULET (France). The French led by 4 IMPs after the first set and by 3 IMPs at the midway point. Going into the final stanza they trailed 100-104 and a large crowd gathered to watch the end of what had been an intriguing contest throughout. BAILEY had increased their advantage to 21 IMPs when our final deal arrived at the tables. It was a layout that offered plenty of potential, and the spectators got to see some big fireworks at both tables. 

Bernard Payen chose not to open with the obvious weak 2♥ on the West hand, presumably because he had four spades. Whilst most of the world now looks for any excuse to pre-empt, some players still find any excuse not to do so. That left Joshua Donn to open 1♠ on the North hand. Now Eric Mauberquez entered the fray with an Unusual 2NT, showing both minors, and Payen duly chose diamonds. Donn seemed to let the French pair off the big hook that his partner had waiting for them when he bid his hearts, but Mauberquez hadn’t yet got the memo that it was not their hand. Perhaps it was the language barrier but, when he bid 4♣, Jan Jansma (left) lowered the boom in a manner understandable in any language. Not that it mattered, but Payen should perhaps have passed 4♣-X. He gave reluctant preference back to diamonds and Jansma closed the exciting auction with a second double.

Donn led his club and declarer won with dummy’s ace. Perhaps it looks like the natural thing to do, but leading the ♣Q (or any club) at trick two is the only way to give the defenders a sixth trick. Jansma played low, declarer pitched a spade from his hand, and Donn scored a ruff with his singleton ♦J. Donn cashed the ♠K and played a second spade, declarer ruffing in dummy. The ♣J won the next trick, and declarer then ruffed a club in his hand. Declarer cashed the ♥A and ruffed a heart in dummy, but Jansma overruffed and played a trump to declarer’s bare king. Declarer could make the ♦A, but the defenders had the rest of the tricks. N/S +800.

Philippe Soulet (right) began his international career as a member of the French team that won the 1980 World Team Olympiad. Two years later, he collected a gold medal from the Rosenblum Cup on home soil in Biarritz. He has been a regular in French Open and Senior Teams for more than 40 years. Just a few weeks ago, he was a member of the Open Teams champions at the European Transnational Championships in Strasbourg.

Bill Bailey did open 2♥ on the West hand. Thereafter, though, it would appear that both members of the American partnership were playing in a vacuum. Philippe Soulet overcalled 2♠ on the North hand to leave Dan Korbel with the last of this week’s problems. Should he have been warned off by his partner’s weak heart opening? How likely is it that you want to try to outbid the opponents’ spade contract on this East hand? When Korbel advanced with 3♣, the Americans were in trouble, and Alain Coriat doubled to let them know.

Had the auction ended in 3♣-X, the chances are that the French pair would have conceded a 500 penalty, which may not have looked so good at the time, but would have been worth 7 IMPs in the plus column when it came time to compare scores with their teammates. I will leave you to make what you will of Bailey’s 3♥ bid. As far as I can see, you have already told partner that you have six hearts. Do you think he didn’t hear the 2♥ opening? If it is right to remove 3♣-X to 3♥, surely it is up to East to do so.

3♥-X got about what it deserved. Declarer managed to make five tricks: N/S +1100 and the 7-IMP swing went into the SOULET column rather than the other one.

Alas for the French, one swallow does not a Summer make. This board got them to within 13 IMPs, but that was as close as they were to get. After a very tight first 45 boards, BAILEY won the final stanza 44-15 to advance with a 33-IMP win.

We will be back soon with the best of the action and news of the upsets from the Round of 32 of this famous old competition.