Checkback Gladiator
Checkback Gladiator is our name for a variant of XYZ, the two-way checkback in which 2♣ puppets to 2♦ and 2♦ is an artificial game force. The version here was taught at BTU as two-way puppet checkback, documented on PTT as early as 1999.
The point is to sort responder’s strength. After 1X - 1Y - 1Z, responder may want to sign off, invite, or force to game, and natural bids cannot tell these apart cheaply. So the convention applies to 1X - 1Y - 1Z whenever:
- Y shows a suit, natural or by transfer. Responder seldom needs to play exactly 2♣ or 2♦ after showing a suit, so both are free to be relays.
- Responder is unlimited. Otherwise there is no wide range to sort.
Our 1M responses after 1♣, 1♦, and 1♥ qualify, with the auction-specific tables in 1♣ - 1M, 1♦ - 1M, and 1♥ - 1♠. The negative 1♣ - 1♦ does not: it is a catchall showing no suit, and the unlimited hand is opener’s, so we find a playable spot and let opener describe instead.
There are 3 artificial relays in Checkback Gladiator:
- 2♣: several variants:
- to play 2x
- strongly shaped invitation
- balanced invitation
- special game force, defined per auction
- 2♦: game-forcing checkback
- 2NT: transfer to clubs
As a corollary, natural 2x are wide-range invitations and 3x become slam tries. Compared with XYZ in literature, direct 2x are swapped with the variants in 2♣. This is because invitations are prone to competition, so they take the direct route; a weak hand can afford to sign off a round later.
Why Gladiator rather than Stayman
The name follows 1NT continuations. Checkback is short for Checkback Stayman: the original 2♣ asked opener about the majors and opener answered naturally, as over a 1NT opening. XYZ’s 2♣ asks nothing. It puppets to 2♦ so that responder can sign off or invite, and the game-forcing enquiry moves to 2♦. That is exactly Gladiator over 1NT: 2♣ puppets to 2♦ to carry weak and invitational hands, and 2♦ is game-forcing Stayman. A relay that contains weak continuations is a Gladiator, not a Stayman.
History
Gladiator is the older idea. It is reported to appear in the first edition of Roman Club in the 1950s, where Belladonna preferred one negative and three positives at the 2 level to Stayman’s three negatives and one positive. The same count holds here: 2♣ is the only rebid that may be weak, and 2♦, 2♥, and 2♠ are all positive. Two-way checkback itself is much younger. A Bridge Winners search for its origin traces it to Cowan in The Bridge World, 1988, and the name XYZ to Joe Kivel in Bridge Today.