Pierre Ghestem

Who was Pierre Ghestem?

Pierre Ghestem was a French bridge and checkers player. In 1947 he became the world champion in checkers. In bridge, he was a WBF Grand Master and won the World Team Olympiad in 1960 and Bermuda Bowl in 1956 as a member of the French bridge team, as well as European titles in 1953, 1955, 1962, and second places in 1956 and 1961.

In his early years Ghestem also played chess, 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 convention two-suiter bids, and has significantly contributed to the theory of relay systems. He authored and played the relay-based Monaco system with his regular partner Rene Bacherich.