Pietro Forquet (2 July 1925 – 27 January 2023) was an Italian bridge player, one of the most famous in bridge history. He won 15 World championship titles with the Blue Team, playing with Eugenio Chiaradia, Guglielmo Siniscalco and, for the most part, Benito Garozzo. Apart from his excellent play, he was renowned for his nerves of steel.
Forquet and Garozzo wrote a book (1967, in Italian)[1] on the Blue Club bidding system, the 1950s Neapolitan system as modified by their partnership, which was published in English as The Italian Blue Team bridge book (1969). In 1971 he wrote Gioca con il Blue Team, published in English as Bridge with the Blue Team, which is widely considered[citation needed] to be the world's best collection of fascinating bridge deals.
Personal life and death
Forquet was born in Naples on 2 July 1925.[2] Before becoming a full-time bridge player, he was a bank manager. In the July 1963 issue of Sports Illustrated he was described as "suave, handsome, well-tailored, polite, quick-witted and tough".[3] He died on 27 January 2023, at the age of 97.[4]
Books
- The Italian Blue Team bridge book, Benito Garozzo and Forquet with Enzo Mingoni, 274 pp. (Grosset & Dunlap, 1969) OCLC 77773; (Cassell & Co, 1970) – transl. of Il Fiori Blue Team (Milan: Prati, 1967) OCLC 59797539
- Bridge with the Blue Team, translated by Helen Thompson, ed. Ron Klinger, 384 pp. (Sydney: A.B. Publications, 1983) OCLC 27615808; (Gollancz, 1987, ISBN 0-575-06391-2) – transl. of Gioca con il Blue Team. 150 smazzate giocate dal vero (Milan: Ugo Mursia editore, 1971)
A Chinese-language edition of Gioca con il Blue Team was published in 1990, Lan dui qiao pai. OCLC 424718859
Bridge accomplishments
- World championships
Forquet won 15 world championships, all as one of six players on the Italy open team-of-four.
- Bermuda Bowl (12) 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1973, 1974
- World Open Team Olympiad (3) 1964, 1968, 1972
Runners-up
- Bermuda Bowl 1951, 1976
- Olympiad 1976
- European championships
- European Open Teams (5) 1951, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959
Runners-up: none
References
- ^ "Pietro Forquet (interview)" (in English). Paolo Enrico Garrisi. Neapolitan Club (neapolitanclub.altervista.org). 20 December 2010. Retrieved 2015-01-09. The "interview" as published online, in English as in Italian, comprises short responses by Forquet to nine items that incorporate some acute observations with sources.
- ^ "Forquet". famiglienobilinapolitane.it. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
- ^ Tom Townsend (10 February 2023). "Bridge Hand: And then there was one". Daily Telegraph. p. 26.
- ^ "Pietro Forquet". Bridge D'Italia Online. 27 January 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
External links
- "International record for Pietro Forquet". World Bridge Federation.
- "Master Points record for Pietro Forquet". World Bridge Federation.
- "Pietro Forquet" at BridgeBum (bridgebum.com)
- "Benito Garozzo" at BridgeBum
- Pietro Forquet at Library of Congress, with 3 library catalogue records (including 1 "from old catalog")
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This page was last edited on 10 February 2023, at 14:25