We return to South America this week for the final of the Open Teams at the Brazilian National Championships. Last week, we saw two semi-finals, both of which were decided by a single-figure margin, with the winner in doubt until the very end. The result was victories for HENRIQUE (Henrique Salomao, Joao Paulo Campos, Mauricio Figueiredo and Jose Paiva) and for MONPERI (Roberto de Oliveira, Diego Brenner, Joao da Silva Neto, Mauricio Machado and Raul Leon). The final will be played over two days, with the 56-board match divided into four 14-board stanzas.

Just a couple of problems this week. Firstly, with both sides vulnerable, you are West holding:

What, if anything, do you open?

Next, with only your side vulnerable, you are again sitting West, with:

What action, if any, do you take?

Both semi-finals were relatively low-scoring. In one, neither team broke into triple figures, and just 185 IMPs changed hands over 56 boards. If the first stanza is any indication, the final rates to be the complete opposite, the two teams sharing 125 IMPs over the opening 14 deals. The action began on the very first board, with both teams having chances to draw first blood.

Looking at just the N/S cards, with East known to hold length in both majors, where would you want to play this hand? You might think that, with suits likely to split poorly, you would do best to stop low, which is what N/S did at this table. How good a contract do you think 3NT is on the lead of the ♥10?

As the cards lie, 3NT can always be made, but it requires one huge slice of luck, and that only after Henrique Salomao (right) had given the defenders a chance to beat him.

Declarer allowed West to win with the ♥10, and Mauricio Machado continued with a second heart to his partner’s jack. Should declarer duck again, or win? Salomao let the ♥J win and, as you can see looking at all four hands, Joao da Silva Neto could have beaten the contract by switching to the ♠Q at trick three. Indeed, the spade switch would probably beat the contract by three, as declarer will surely contribute the ♠K to either the first or second round of the suit, enabling the defenders to score five spades to go with the two hearts they have already made.

Not that declarer was home and dry when East continued with a third round of hearts to his ace. He has five diamonds, two clubs and one heart, but from where is he to get his ninth trick? Clearly, hoping to find the ♠A onside is no good, as East has a slew of heart winners to cash. No, the only chance is to make three club tricks. So, do you play East for a singleton jack or queen and cash one high honour first, intending to take a later finesse against West’s remaining honour? Do you play clubs from the top, playing for a 3-2 break with West holding either Q-x-x or J-x-x plus the ♠A? Or, thirdly, do you play for West to hold both queen and jack of clubs and take a double finesse?

Salomao set out to find out more about the defensive hands by first cashing three rounds of diamonds. He discovered that East began with a singleton diamond. Did that mean, therefore, that East held two clubs and the suit could be established by playing them from the top? Perhaps but, for that to work, declarer would need a late diamond entry to dummy, and he had failed to keep the ♦7 in his hand. He could still have played East for a singleton honour, but Salomao led a club and, when West followed with the ♣2, he put in the ♣10 from dummy,

When the ♣10 won, declarer was home, unblocking the diamond and then using dummy’s remaining club entry to reach the 13^th diamond. N/S a very sweaty +400.

East showed Majors via a 2♦ overcall here, and Diego Brenner doubled showing diamonds. West competed in spades and Raul Leon showed his diamond fit. Here, too, South tried 3NT, but Leon didn’t like the sound of that now, and continued with 4♦. A couple of cue-bids later, Brenner installed his partner in slam.

East led the ♥K. Leon won with the ♥A, cashed the ♦A and crossed to the ♣A. He can make the contract now. One route is to play the ♣K and ruff a club, cash the ♦Q, then use heart ruffs to get to dummy, first to take a second club ruff and then to draw West’s last trump. Playing a diamond to the queen and then a second club is equally effective. What did not work, was cashing the ♦K at trick four. Declarer could then no longer cope with East holding two minor-suit singletons. Two ruffs were needed to establish the clubs, but ruffing with the ♦Q would set up a trick for West’s ♦J. N/S -50 and 10 IMPs to HENRIQUE when a similar number (or more) could easily have gone in the other direction.

On Board 3, Campos/Salomao found a cheap save at the five-level. Rather than take a small loss on the board, Machado took the push to 5♠, which went down one. HENRIQUE led 22-0 after only three deals. On the next board, both West players had to decide what, if anything, to open on this week’s first problem hand.

In first seat with both sides vulnerable, West’s options seem to be Pass, 1♦, 2♦ or 3♦. On this layout, only the three-level pre-empt made by Mauricio Marcado had the effect of shutting South’s spade suit out of the auction.

You could certainly argue that Joao Paulo Campos’s jump to 4♥ was a contributing factor. Had he contented himself with 3♥, South would have had a natural and forcing 3♠ bid available. Not so after the 4♥ overcall, when 4♠ would probably be considered a cue-bid agreeing hearts. That is the point about pre-empting, though: taking away the opponents’ bidding space gives them fewer options and, the more you force them to guess, the more often they will guess wrong.

Joao de Silva Neto led a diamond against 6♥ and the 4-1 trump break then left declarer with no chance. N/S -100.

Here, Mauricio Figueiredo opened with a weak 2♦ on the West cards. After North’s two-level heart overcall, Diego Brenner was able to make a natural/forcing spade bid. There seems little chance of the partnership now playing in the wrong denomination. (Although the auction above is the one shown in the VuGraph records, I strongly suspect there is a typo. North’s 3♥ bid makes no sense, and South’ subsequent bidding makes if very likely that North actually bid the obvious 3♠ at his second turn.)

There was no defence to a spade contract, and declarer soon drew trumps and ruffed the hearts good to establish discards for his minor-suit losers. N/S +2210 and a massive 20 IMPs to HENRIQUE, now trailing by only 2 IMPs.

The expectant crowd did not have long to wait for the next swing, although it seems to me that this one was self-inflicted to a large extent. What did you make of the last of this week’s bidding problems?

I confess that I really loathe a double on that South hand, with no extra values and without four-card support for either major, but I cannot argue with its success on this deal. Perhaps someone understands the logic behind Mauricio Figueiredo’s pass, but that someone is not I. Sure, bidding 1♥ is not that attractive with such a poor suit, but surely that is what you would have done if South had passed. Why should it be any different because South doubled? The main problem with passing is that you are only delaying the problem, and it is never going to be any easier on the next round, when the bidding will inevitably be at a higher level.

Jose Piava might have made a takeout double of Raul Leon’s jump to 3♣ but, facing a partner who could not bid on the first round, that is an action fraught with danger. Of course, Figueiredo was not even close to taking any action when 3♣ came around to him.

In theory, declarer has five losers in 3♣, three diamonds, and one in each black suit. However, given time, he can dispose of the spade loser by taking a successful heart finesse. Of course, declarer needs to reach his hand in order to take the finesse. Piava kicked off by cashing his three top diamonds. To defeat the contract, he then has to switch to a spade at trick four. Instead, Piava played a fourth found of diamonds, hoping to promote a trump trick for his partner. Leon ruffed with the ♣6, which was high enough to shut out West’s baby trumps. He was then able to force out the ♣A, thus creating an entry to his hand. Piava switched to a spade after winning with the ♣A, but that was too late. Declarer won with the ♠A, crossed to his hand in trumps, and took a heart finesse to create a discard for his spade loser. E/W -110.

Not that the number of tricks made here mattered that much, as the board had been lost in the bidding.  

A very experienced campaigner, Joao da Silva Neto (right) has been a member of the Brazilian Seniors team at a handful of World championship events since 2005.

He kicked off the auction here with an off-centre 1NT opening. Mauricio Machado advanced with Stayman, doubled lead-directionally by North. Although there are no alerts or explanations in the VuGraph records, it would seem that Da Silva Neto’s 2♦ bid showed both majors, as Machado now jumped to 4♦, presumably asking his partner to pick a major. Da Silva Neto chose hearts, but reconsidered when Henrique Salomao doubled for penalties. In fact, is it the spade game that is potentially in danger although, with East as declarer, South can only take a heart ruff at the expense of his second trick in the suit.

Da Silva Neto won the opening club lead and immediately played a trump. South won with the ace and cashed the ♥A, but then exited with a second club, ruffed by declarer. There was still a heart to be lost at the end, but declarer had ten tricks: E/W +620 and 12 IMPs to MONPERI.

MONPERI continued to pile on the pressure, although the final board of the set provided their opponents with some respite, and the large BBO VuGraph crowd with something to chat about in the break between sessions.

After two natural bids, Campos entered the fray with an ultra-aggressive 2NT, showing a distributional hand with both black suits. With a such a good fit, Henrique Salomao do doubt jumped to 4♠ with high expectation of making the contract. He was soon disillusioned, first by West’s double and, more emphatically, by the sight of dummy.

With unattractive leads in all suits, Machado fished out the ♦K. Da Silva Neto overtook with the ♦A and, rather than switching to his trump immediately, cashed the ♥K before doing so. Declarer was now theoretically up to eight tricks, but he needed to score low trumps by ruffing red suits. When he instead cashed the ♠K and then tried the ♣A, which West ruffed, it was the defenders who could now score eight winners. Machado correctly cashed the ♠Q, drawing declarer’s last trump, but East discarded a heart on this trick. West could cash a heart now and play a diamond through dummy, but declarer discarded a club and now all East could do was take his ♣K. The defenders made seven tricks, so that was four down: E/W +800.

Raul Leon did not come in on the North hand, but the ultimate decision was foisted on him when Diego Brenner doubled 4♥ in the pass out seat, and Mauricio Figueoredo’s redouble added to the pressure. As we have already seen, it is possible for declarer to make at least seven or eight tricks in a spade contract. Leon chose not to take action and led the ♦9. This enabled the defenders to score a diamond ruff to save the second overtrick, but that was small consolation. E/W +1080 and 7 IMPs to HENRIQUE to finish an explosive opening stanza.

After the first 14 boards, MONPERI led by 40 IMPs, 82-42. The second stanza was very dull by comparison and, unfortunately, there are no VuGraph records of what happened on what looked like the most interesting deals (3NT-X for -800 and then 6♣-5 when opponents were making a dull-looking 4♥ in the other room). HENRIQUE won the second set 24-19 to reduce the deficit to 35 IMPs at the overnight break.

We will be back next week with the last day of these championships and the best of the action from the last two stanzas of this final.