Pierre Ghestem (14 February 1922,

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

– 11 March 2000, Lille) was a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

and checkers player.

Career

In 1947 he became the world champion in checkers. In bridge, he was a

World Bridge Federation The World Bridge Federation (WBF) is the international governing body of contract bridge. The WBF is responsible for world championship competitions, most of which are conducted at a few multi-event meets on a four-year cycle. The most prestigiou ...

Grand Master. As a member of the France open team, he won the inaugural World Team Olympiad in 1960 and the Bermuda Bowl in 1956 (runner-up in 1954, third-place 1961 and 1963), as well as European titles in 1953, 1955, 1962 (second in 1956 and 1961). In his early years Ghestem also played

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

, and made it to the fourth position in the 1944 Chess Championship of North France. In bridge, Pierre Ghestem is well known for his contributions to the theory of bidding. He was the author of Ghestem two-suit bids, and has significantly contributed to the theory of . He invented and played the relay-based Monaco system with his regular partner René Bacherich. Ghestem and Bacherich were unusually slow players. Covering the 1963 Bermuda Bowl in ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

'', Alfred Sheinwold called them "the slowest partnership in the world" with "no rivals as a pair". The British expatriate

Alan Truscott Alan Fraser Truscott (16 April 1925 – 4 September 2005) was a British-American bridge player, writer, and editor. He wrote the daily bridge column for ''The New York Times'' for 41 years, from 1964 to 2005, and served as Executive Editor for th ...

told readers of his ''New York Times'' bridge column in 1967, "all the records in this area are held by the famous French partnership"."Bridge: Slow Players Cause Problems Lost in Thought Either Way". Alan Truscott. ''The New York Times''. September 10, 1967. Page 164.

References

External links

*
Pierre Ghestem
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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghestem, Pierre 1922 births 2000 deaths French contract bridge players Bermuda Bowl players French draughts players Players of international draughts Contract bridge writers Sportspeople from Lille Articles containing video clips