Pietro Forquet

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) 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". He died on 27 January 2023, at the age of 97.

Books

The Italian Blue Team bridge book, Benito Garozzo and Forquet with Enzo Mingoni, 274 pp. (Grosset & Dunlap, 1969) ; (Cassell & Co, 1970) – transl. of Il Fiori Blue Team (Milan: Prati, 1967) Bridge with the Blue Team, translated by Helen Thompson, ed. Ron Klinger, 384 pp. (Sydney: A.B. Publications, 1983) ; (Gollancz, 1987, ) – 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.

Bridge accomplishments

World championships Forquet won 15 world championships, all as one of six players on the Italy open . 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