User:P64/Bridge/South America

South America led the expansion of the Bermuda Bowl tournament, then annual, and the establishment of the World Bridge Federation.

Results
Evidently the CSB has conducted 61 South American Bridge Championships, 3 transnational in recent even-number years and 58 for national teams: 1948 to 2005 except 1952, 1960, and 1992 (55) plus 2007, 2009, 2011.

Brazil won nine consecutive Open championships beginning 1967. Previously, Argentina had won 10, Brazil 3, Venezuela 3, and Chile 1. Here are the all-time counts after 2011.

This count recognizes a tie in the 1966 Open(*). Open        Women 33 Brazil     25* 20 Argentina  21 3 Venezuela 2 Chile       4 Uruguay    5* Peru       2 Colombia   2 58            59**

Argentina won the first five Womens titles and five consecutive Opens from 1957. Brazil won 9 consecutive Opens from 1967, seven from 1986, five from 1996. Brazil won 26 of 33 Opens from 1967 to 2000 and Argentina won the other seven. Between wins by Venezuela 1966 and Chile 2009, Brazil and Argentina won 29 and 10 Open championships.

Senior
There were entries from South America in the world-level Senior Bowl tournament beginning with its second rendition in 2003 but the zonal Confederation CSB reports no Seniors tournament before 2009. In 2007 the Open and Women tournaments were complemented by a Juniors tournament including one entry from the United States.

Transnational championships
The South American championships conducted in even-number years beginning 2006 are transnational, meaning that players of different nationality are permitted to enter as pairs or teams. The teams tournaments have many more entries than during odd years, for only one national team may enter each flight. Nevertheless, at the top of the leaderboard and on the podium at last, the transnationals may look a lot like nationals.

2006.Resultados Sudamericano-Transnacional de Bridge Cartagena 2006. Brazil beat Argentina in the open final (130.5 102). "Los Rosarios" beat Argentina in the women (117 112). Entries from Brazil and Colombia won the open and women pairs.

2008. In the 58th championships (2008),58º Campeonato Sudamericano Abierto Transnacional de Lima 2008, it appears that 46 teams entered the main tournament: 27 open and 19 women. Six of the open and seven of the women were national teams. For 9 rounds all 46 teams played each other, Swiss format(?), followed by three rounds of play within the Open and Women classes. The two Brazil national teams led the two classes easily; the women "Brasil D" stood fourth after nine rounds and finished with the second-best overall score.

In both flights, three national teams finished in the top four and advanced to the knockout stage, and two national teams met in the final. Brazil and Chile tied the open (117 all in 64 deals) while Brazil beat Argentina in the women (192.5–83).

Near the top of the preliminary leaderboard and in the knockout stage, therefore, the "transnational" tournament looked much like the national teams competition that is now conducted only in even-number years.

2010.III Sudamericano Transnacional de Bridge Mar del Plata, Argentina, 1 8 May 2010 The 60th South American championships in May 2010 were the "3rd Festival Transnational". The winners of Youth events may have participated in the World Bridge Series, October 2010 in Philadelphia, as national or South American representatives. In the main teams event, none of the 41 entries has a national name such as "Brasil" or "Brasil D" (contrast 13 of 46 in 2008). Some players from national teams have joined together.

The winning open team "Caracci" includes four members of the Chile open national team, which tied Brazil in the 2008 "transnational" and won the 2009 national teams. So those four players won their third consecutive open teams medals.

The open runner-up and both women finalists did not comprise national team members, but all the players on both runners-up were from Brazil.(Bulletin)

The Daily Bulletins (pdf format online) are in English edited by John Carruthers of Canada, "a bit of a bridge historian". The final number includes (Bulletin No. 9, Sunday, May 9, 2010. Pages 5 6.) an interview with Marcelo Lerner, who played for Argentina in the 1958 Bermuda Bowl tournament when that expanded from two teams to three —and represented Argentina in the 2009 Senior Bowl too.