We are in Buenos Aires, Argentina for the penultimate time, for the semi-finals of the South American Transnational Championships. After three days of play and twelve round of Swiss, the original entry of 35 teams was reduced to the top eight. Yesterday’s quarter-finals then halved that number.

The transnational status of this event is truly emphasized this year, with at least three nationalities represented in each of the remaining teams. The semi-finals will be VENTIN (Spain, Portugal, Chile and Sweden) v WHIBLEY (Australia, New Zealand and Argentina) and ZIMMERMANN (Switzerland, Monaco and Poland) v MILLENS (USA, Canada and Sweden). Matches will be of 36 boards, divided into three 12-board stanzas.

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

What action, if any, do you take?

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

What action, if any, do you take?

Finally, with both sides vulnerable, you hold as East:

What action, if any, do you take?

While you consider those problems, we begin our coverage on Board 2 of the opening stanza of VENTIN v WHIBLEY. This is an instructive deal that illustrates how you should be thinking in competitive auctions…

Perhaps someone can explain to me the logic behind overcalling 1♦ on this North hand. Is it the pre-emptive value, perhaps? I could sympathize with a weak jump to 2♦ which does, at least, take away some bidding space from the opponents. Facing a passed partner, though, do you expect to be able to outbid the opponents? Do you really want to encourage partner to do so when your hand is this bad?

To see how bad this hand is, even facing a raise from partner, consider that the opponents can profitably double you at the two-level to outscore their vulnerable game. Yes, the opponents can make a three-level partscore in your best suit!

There are no alerts/explanations in the VuGraph records, but I would guess that Michael Whibley’s double was a transfer, showing four or more hearts, rather than a negative double. West brushed aside South’s moderate attempt at pre-emption with a splinter jump agreeing hearts, but that information did not seem to improve Whibley’s hand sufficiently to tempt him beyond game. Not that slam is particularly good: it needs the club finesse for a start, and declarer still has to do something with two losing clubs and the fourth spade. With spades 3-3 and South holding the club length, so that declarer can safely ruff low in his hand, twelve tricks were easy enough. E/W +680.

In a similar position at the other table, North had a toy and he couldn’t resist playing with it.

Following his first international appearance, in the Swedish School team at the 1998 European Youth Championships, Per-Ola Cullin (left) represented his country a handful of times at various Junior levels before making his debut in the Open team at the 2007 Bermuda Bowl. He was a member of  the first Swedish team ever to win a World team title, collecting gold at the 2012 World Team Olympiad. More recently, playing with his life partner, Marion Michielsen, he earned a bronze medal at the 2022 World Mixed Teams in  Wroclaw.

On this deal, Cullin opened a Swedish/Strong Club on the West hand. Michielsen’s 1♥ response in competition was game-forcing, showing 4+ zz points (ace=3, king=2, queen=1).

I know it is popular to bid at any excuse over a strong/artificial 1♣ opening, but there should still be some objective to doing so. Here, Carlos Pellegrini’s 1♦ showed either a diamond single-suiter or a two-suited hand with both black suits. Hoping to cause confusion against such an experienced partnership does not seem to me like a sufficient reason for bidding. Again, the choice for me is either a very pushy 2♦ or, preferably, pass.

Not that I think Pellegrini is entirely responsible for the debacle that ensued. Judgement plays a huge role in competitive bidding decisions. Let’s look at things from the point of view of Carlos Lucena in the South seat. You should be asking yourself a number of question before taking a second bid. Your partner has not attempted to pre-emt the opponents by raising to even 3♣, and would he not probably have done so with three-card support? Your opponents have opened a Strong Club and shown a game-forcing positive response. Do you think you might outbid them on this deal? No, and as they can always outbid you, when are they not going to do so? Right, when they can extract a profitable penalty – like fielder’s choice in baseball, when the fielding side can take the out at whichever base they choose. Based on the answers to those questions posed above, can you see any reason for bidding 3♣?

Despite the vulnerability, the Swedes had already ruled out bidding a slam. Once the Argentines climbed to the three-level, the doubling began. The defence to 3♦-X was straightforward but no less brutal for that. Michielsen led the ♣9, ducked to West’s king. She then won the trump switch with the ♦Q and returned a low diamond. What could declarer do? If he played a trump, Michielsen would win with the ace and, with dummy now out of trumps, the defenders would cash three winners in each major for five down. Instead, declarer played on clubs, discarding one of his losers. East therefore scored her low trump as compensation for the sixth major-suit winner that had been lost. Same result: declarer made just four tricks. E/W +1100 and 9 IMPs to VENTIN.

The next big swing came a couple of boards later, when Cullin’s natural 2♣ opening enabled his side to find a 5♣ game. The Argentines correctly saved in 5♥ down one, but that was small recompense when their opponents were allowed to play the cold 4♥ at the other table. Then came…

At the risk of annoying the Australian players, who had played very well to reach this stage of a very strong competition, I have to say that this was a really feeble effort. Playing transfer responses to the 1♣ opening, Whibley showed a hand without a four-card major with his 1♠ response. I can only conclude that they lacked the methods to investigate after West’s 2NT rebid. North’s high heart lead conceded the eleventh trick: E/W +460.

By contrast, the Swedish auction was like comparing the blandness of a monochrome Miro with the imagination and technical acumen evident to all in a Dali… 

Cullin opened a Strong Club and just relayed thereafter whilst Marion Michielsen (right) described her hand. The result was that the Swedes not only reached the top spot, but played it from the short side. (A heart lead would defeat 6♣ played by East.)

North made the play easy by leading the ♥K, but Cullin was destined to make the contract as the cards lie on any lead. On, say, a trump lead, declarer draws trumps, eliminates diamonds and spades, then plays a heart to the jack. North wins and is then endplayed either to lead away from his remaining heart honour or to concede a ruff-and-sluff. E/W +920 and another 12 IMPs to VENTIN.

VENTIN won the opening stanza 41-13. Whilst the match was not completely dead at this early stage, WHIBLEY never really looked like getting back into it. They won both remaining sets, but by only 2 IMPs and 3 IMPs. VENTIN thus claimed their place in the final with victory by 70-47.

For the remaining two stanzas, we’ll concentrate our attention on the match between ZIMMERMANN and MILLENS. After the first 12 boards, ZIMMERMANN led by 6 IMPs, 43-37. We join the action late in the second stanza, with both West players facing the second of this week’s problems…

Cecilia Rimstedt (left) earned a silver medal in her first international event, representing Sweden in the Under-26 Women’s Teams at the 2004 European Youth Championships. Another silver followed in the same event a year later, and then gold in the 2006 World Junior Pairs completed an impressive career as a junior. She made her debut in the Swedish Women’s team at the 2006 European Championships. She earned a silver medal at the 2018 European Championships and then came a slew of victories, in the Mixed Pairs at the 2019 European Transnational Championships, the 2019 Venice Cup and the 2022 McConnell Cup.

Following her partner’s Michaels bid, Rimstedt had a straightforward 4♠ bid over Franck Multon’s pre-emptive heart raise. The more difficult question came when Pierre Zimmermann’s 5♥ was passed back to her. The first question that regular partnerships should agree on is whether Kevin Dwyer’s pass is forcing. I would suggest that, in this type of auction, where it is unclear which side is bidding to make and which is saving, the answer should be “no”.

With 5♥ going down, Rimstedt’s decision to bid five-over-five swapped a small plus for a small minus. Zimmermann doubled and led the ♣2. Even with the spade finesse working, there were three unavoidable losers, two clubs and a heart, so that was one down. E/W -100.

The auction was identical here, and double Bermuda Bowl winner Jacek Kalita also opted to bid 5♠ on the West hand. At this table, though, Shan Huang did not double on the North cards, leaving Jacob Freeman to make the last guess in the South seat. With East having shown a spade/minor two-suiter, perhaps Freeman should look upon his minor-suit holdings as sufficient defensive values to expect to go plus defending. And, even if 5♠ is making, can you be sure that 6♥-X will not cost more than the opponents’ non-vulnerable game?

I was expecting to report that the jury was still out on the merits of West’s 5♠ bid as, at this table, bidding on had turned a small plus into a much more significant plus. Remarkably, neither of the Poles could find a double of 6♥, so pushing the opponents a level higher gained only 50 for the extra undertrick, rather than turning +100 into +500. E/W +150 and 6 IMPs to ZIMMERMANN. As you can see, the winning answer to the problem as set at the top of the article was to double and collect your +300: not easy at all.

ZIMMERMANN won a low-scoring second stanza 22-20, and thus led by 8 IMPs, 65-57, going into the last set. The score had advanced to 80-58 with a handful of boards remaining. This deal virtually ended the match as a contest…

Jacek Kalita (right) did not bid over South weak jump to 2♠, which perhaps encouraged Shan Huang into a questionable raise. When Michal Nowosadzki doubled to show his good hand, Kalita had a fairly easy decision to play for penalties.

The defence began with three rounds of diamonds, ruffed with the ♠7 (discarding a heart is no better) and overruffed with the ♠8. Kalita exited with a heart and declarer won with the ace to play a low club from dummy. East rose with the ♣A, cashed the ♥K, and continued with the ♥Q. Declarer ruffed and led a low trump towards dummy’s queen, but Kalita won with the ♠K and exited with a club. Declarer could cross to the ♠Q, but could not then get back to his hand without promoting West’s ♠J into the seventh defensive trick. E/W +800: Ouch!

Kevin Dwyer made a negative double after same start to the auction. Warned by both opponents bidding, Zimmermann might have passed, but he advanced with 2NT (whether this was intended as natural or some sort of spade raise is unclear, even looking at his hand). Here, too, East doubled to show extras. When Multon retreated to his seven-card suit at the three-level, West doubled to leave Rimstedt with the last of this week’s problems. It would seem that she did not think that Kevin Dwyer’s double was an out-and-out penalty double, rather than an “I have extra values too but don’t know where to go” double. With her good suit, partial heart fit and a club suit to boot, Rimstedt clearly had hopes of higher things. It seems unlikely that she intended her jump to 4NT as natural but, rather, as some sort of pick a strain/slam try.

The play’s the thing, though. Multon led the ♣J, which was allowed to win, and continued with a second club to queen and ace. Now declarer led the ♥K. Zimmermann won with the ♥A, cashed the ♣K, and can then play a spade to his partner’s ace for one down. When, instead, he exited with a fourth round of clubs, Rimstedt was in with a chance. Looking at all four hands, it is easy to see that declarer can make the rest of the tricks simply by playing the red suits from the top.

After winning with the ♣10, Rimstedt cashed the ♦K, crossed to the ♦A, and led the ♥10 from dummy.  When she guessed to take the heart finesse, a relieved South won with the ♥J and cashed the ♠A for two down. E/W -200 and 14 IMPs to ZIMMERMANN.

ZIMMERMANN won the third stanza 38-13 and the match by a score of 104-70. It will be VENTIN against ZIMMERMANN in the final, and we will be back soon with the best of the action from that match.