We are in Chicago, Illinois for the 2023 U.S. Summer Nationals, where the Spingold Knockout Teams have now reached the Round of 16. Unusually, 11 of the original Top 16 seeds have survived to this stage, so many of the world’s best players will be in action today. We’ll take a look at the best action from four of the eight matches, and bring you news of all the upsets.

All matches are 60 boards divided into four 15-board stanzas. As usual, we start with a couple of problems. Firstly, with only your side vulnerable, you are East holding:

What action, if any, do you take?

Finally, again with only your side vulnerable, you are sitting in the East seat with:

What action do you take?

While you consider those, we start in the opening stanza of a match featuring #2 ROMBAUT (France), the original #34 seeds. In the last round, we saw them in action during their upset victory over #2 NICKELL. Now they take on #15 GOLDBERG (USA/Singapore/England/Sweden).

I know readers always like to see experts with egg on their face, so here is an example of a deal on which a world-class player makes a losing play in a situation where almost every club player in the world would have taken the winning action.

I would question Connie Goldberg’s initial pass on this North hand. I think they were playing a Strong Club system, which means that both a natural 2♣ or a pre-emptive 3♣ were available, either of which look like better options. When Hua Poon then opened a nebulous 1♦ in fourth seat, Goldberg’s jump to 3♣ was alerted as invitational. With a minimum fourth-seat opening, Poon had no reason to do anything but produce dummy.

The defence was fairly routine.  Jean-Luc Aroix led the ♥Q and continued with the ♥J. He then cashed the ♦A before playing a third round of hearts to his partner’s ace. When declarer led the ♣J from dummy, Jeremie Tignel duly covered with the king, promoting the ♣10 into the fifth defensive trick. N/S -100.

That all seems fairly normal. The action was at the other table.

Leo Rombaut (left) is one of the brightest young stars in world bridge. He collected a bronze medal on his international debut, as a member of the French Under-16 team at the 2016 European Youth Championships. The following year, he earned a silver medal in the same event at the World Championships. He completed his collection of medals with victory in the Under-21 Teams at the 2022 World Youth Championships. Just a few weeks ago, playing with his father, Jerome, Leo reached the final of the Open Teams at the European Transnational Championships in Strasbourg.  

On this deal, Jerome opened 1♣ on the North hand. Perhaps Leo should have rebid 2NT at his second turn, but maybe he thought he was a tad too good. His 2♠ bid obviously left his partner with the expectation of 4-5 in the majors. Not that 3NT would have been any better than what looks like the doomed 4♥. However, defence is the most difficult part of the game, and even Homer nods occasionally.

A European champion as a junior, a multiple Women’s European champion, winner of the World Mixed Teams in 2014, and winner of the McConnell Cup at the 2022 World Championships in Wroclaw, Marion Michielsen has accumulated a serious medal collection for one still relatively young.

Michielsen led a diamond against Leo’s 4♥. Per-Ola Cullin won with the ♦A and switched to a spade, West’s jack forcing dummy’s ace. Clearly the defenders have three trump winners to take but, when declarer led a trump to East’s ten and his king, Michielsen fatally ducked her ace.

That was all the assistance Leo needed. He ruffed his diamond loser and played a second round of trumps. Cullin won with the jack and continued spades. Declarer won and played a third round of hearts. When the trumps split, declarer still needed the club finesse to work, but the Bridge Gods were smiling on the young Frenchman. A spectacular N/S +620 and 12 IMPs to ROMBAUT.

ROMBAUT won the opening stanza 41-22 and the second set 47-22. They advanced into the quarter-finals with a comfortable 150-99 win.

Let’s now take a look at the big Scandinavian face-off. Another team that we saw in the previous round, #14 BREMARK (Sweden/Portugal), were now up against their sternest opposition so far, #3 ROSENTHAL (USA/Norway). BREMARK led by 10 IMPs (27-17) after the first set. To open the second set, both East players had to answer the first of this week’s problems. The routine-looking action is not always the winning choice…

Andrew Rosenthal chose to respond 1♠, as I’m sure many players would. I suppose it depends on how freely your partnership raises a major-suit response with three-card support, but I confess I would much rather bid 1NT than 1♠. If opener rebids 2♣, as he likely will here, you can pass and produce a dummy that gives partner a chance of making his contract. Facing a 1♠ response, Aaron Silverstein made what looks like the obvious raise to the three-level, which turned out to be way too high on these cards.

Antonio Palma led a trump to the king and ace, and Frederic Wrang continued with the ♣A and a second club. Winning with the ♣K, declarer could have gotten out for one down by playing a trump to the queen now, but it looks obvious to play a heart, which is what Silverstein did. The defence made no mistake: Palma won with the ♥A, cashed the ♣Q, and continued with the ♣J, ruffed with the ♠9 and overruffed with the ♠J. Wrang now returned a second round of hearts to enable his partner to score one of his remaining trumps. Two down: N/S +200.

A member of the BBO expert bidding panel, young Swedish star Simon Hult (right) will need no introduction to many readers. Whilst we have already mentioned the possible debate between responding 1♠ or 1NT, Hult found a third option. The more you think about it, the more sensible Hult’s Pass looks. Do you really expect to make game opposite a 1♥ opening? How likely is it that partner will get you too high if you bid? With decent defensive values facing an opening bid, how worried are you that the opponents will bid and make a game if you give them an easy ride?

Hult’s pass worked out excellently. Boye Brogeland backed in with a double of 1♥ and Christian Bakke passed that around to Hult. His rescue redouble then got his side to the one contact they could make, 1♠! Brogeland was no more interested in defending 1♠ than he had been 1♥. Besides, after attempting to defend 1♥-X, is North’s pass of 1♠ now forcing? Something that may be worth checking with your regular partner?

Brogeland tried 2♦. Bakke perhaps took his partner's bidding a little more seriously than Brogeland might have wished, and jumped to game. Will partner really pass 2NT if he has enough to make game opposite a dull 13-count? Not that the extra 50 made a lot of difference.

3NT was not a happy spot for the young Norwegian. Whilst a red-suit lead might have limited declarer to just five tricks, Hult started with the obvious spade. Bremark got endplayed to concede a second heart at the end, but that was still three down. N/S -150 and 8 IMPs to BREMARK.

BREMARK doubled their early advantage in a low-scoring second set, so they led by 20 IMPs at the midway point. ROSENTHAL won the third set to reduce the deficit to 63-69, but the final set was all one-way traffic and BREMARK ended with an emphatic win by 142-91.

Next, we take a look at another of the lower seeded teams who have survived to the Last 16, #10 HANS (Australia/New Zealand), the original #23 seeds. Their opponents in this round are one of the few all-American teams amongst the top seeds, #7 SPECTOR. SPECTOR led 33-32 after the first set and HANS had a 3-IMP advantage at the midway point. The margin had mushroomed to 4 IMPs when this explosive deal arrived.

Nabil Edgtton got the auction rumbling with an aggressive weak two opening for the Antipodeans, and Vincent Demuy countered with a Michaels bid showing spades and a minor. Michael Whibley upped the ante to 4♥ but that did not unduly trouble John Kranyak, who asked for his partner’s minor via 4NT. Demuy showed clubs and Kranyak raised to slam. When that came back to him, Whibley saved in 6♥, but he then chose to defend when Demuy tried his luck in 6♠. E/W +1430.

Saving in 7♥ gets N/S out for -800, but the best chance on this deal seems to be an immediate jump to 6♥ over West’s Michaels 3♥. What could East do? Yes, West might have viewed to pull his partner’s likely double to 6♠. It seems that the odds are that either you will get out for -500 in 6♥-X, or East will take his chances by committing to a grand in his partner’s minor.

Warren Spector (left) picked up a silver medal on his first international appearance, in the Transnational Teams at the 2005 World Championships, and he won bronze in the 2018 Rosenblum Cup. He was a member of the USA team that reached the quarter-finals of the 2022 Bermuda Bowl.

Curiously, the Americans caused their opponents much bigger problems by not opening a weak two.

Sartaj Hans was able to open with a Precision Club, but then began the guessing games. Gavin Wolpert pre-empted to 3♥ and Andy Hung forced to game with a natural 4♦. Spector’s jump to 6♥ then really put the feline in amongst the Columbiformes. Hans pass showed first-round heart control and left Hung with the second of this week’s problems.

Partner’s first-round heart control seems likely to be a void, so is it so unreasonable to hope that he has ♣A/♦A/♠K for his Strong Club opening, in which case do you not fancy your chances of making a grand slam in one of the minors? That’s the view taken by Hung, and Spector duly doubled with his ace, making sure that his partner had no thoughts of saving. E/W +200 and 17 IMPs to SPECTOR.

In truth, it is hard to imagine how the Australians can salvage much from the position in which they were placed. Doubling 6♥ gets only +500, so saves only a few IMPs. Surely, there is no chance of West bidding 6♠ if East doubles 6♥.

SPECTOR won the third set 43-33 and thus led by 7 IMPs going into the last 15 boards. However, it was the underdogs who won out in the end. HANS won the final set 41-21 to win the match by 13 IMPs (138-125) and move into the quarter finals.

Finally, we finish with a match featuring #13 FREDIN (Sweden/Germany/Netherlands), the original #20 seeds, against #4 FLEISHER (USA/France/Italy). No rooting interest here, with BBO expert bidding panel members in both teams. FREDIN jumped out to a substantial early lead, winning the first stanza 56-19. They still led by 26 IMPs after two sets, and by 28 after three.

Although not an insignificant advantage, it did not last long, as FLEISHER whitewashed their opponents 30-0 over the first half of the final set. Then came a question of evaluation.

How do you evaluate this West hand – 21-23 or 24+?

Peter Fredin opened a multi-way Polish 1♣ and rebid 2NT to show a balanced 21-23. Martin de Knijff saw no reason to do anything other than raise to game on his shapeless nine-count.

With five tricks in the black suit, declarer needs one of the two red-suit finesses to work to make 12 tricks, although the limited number of entries to dummy are a potential problem for declarer. When Bessis led a heart to the king, any problems were solved: E/W +690.

Alfredo Versace (right) needs no introduction. He began with his system strong bid and then had to choose between showing his hand as 22-23 or 24+ balanced. Going via a Kokish 2♥ (hearts or 24+ balanced), he showed the 24+ version. Antonio Sementa took the time to investigate a potential spade fit and, when he failed to find one, he raised to slam in no-trumps.

Here, too, the defence started with a heart lead to South’s king, and thus declarer got to try the diamond finesse for an overtrick. No dice: E/W +1440 and another 13 IMPs to FLEISHER. There was one more slam swing still be come, and FLEISHER won the final stanza 54-7 to claim their quarter-final place with victory by 136-117.

Only four of the original Top 8 seeds remain alive going into the quarter-finals. They are #1 ZIMMERMANN, #4 FLEISHER, #5 WOLFSON and #8 LEBOWITZ. With 1 v 8 and 4 v 5 the normal seeding in the quarter-finals, two teams from outside the original Top 8 are therefore guaranteed a place in the semi-finals.

We will be back soon with the best of the action from the quarter-final stage.