Frederick "Fred" Gitelman (born February 6, 1965) is a Canadian-American

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 ...

player, developer of bridge software, and a founder of the online bridge platform Bridge Base Online.

Biography

Gitelman has won one

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, nine

North American Bridge Championships North American Bridge Championships (NABC) are three annual bridge tournaments sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL). The "Spring", "Summer", and "Fall" NABCs are usually scheduled in March, July, and November for about eleven da ...

, and a gold medal in the 2002 IOC Grand Prix. He was a runner-up in the 1995

Bermuda Bowl The Bermuda Bowl is a biennial contract bridge world championship for national . It is contested every odd-numbered year under the auspices of the World Bridge Federation (WBF), alongside the Venice Cup (women), the d'Orsi Senior Bowl and the W ...

as a member of the Canada open . In 2005 he was named Personality of the Year by the International Bridge Press Association. Gitelman was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada. He was a member of the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

youth and later open international teams before he moved to

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

. He resides there with his wife, Sheri Weinstock, also a well-known bridge player. He competed for Team Canada at the

1993 Maccabiah Games The 14th Maccabiah Games brought 5,100 athletes to Israel from 48 nations. Jewish athletes from Poland, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia participated for the first time after World War II, after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Athletes from the eight ...

and

1997 Maccabiah Games The 15th Maccabiah Games are remembered for being marred by a bridge collapse that killed several participants. The Maccabiah had more than 5,000 athletes from 33 countries competing in 36 sports. New sports for the Games included beach volleybal ...

in Israel. He is well known for the educational software he produced through his company Bridge Base Inc. His most recent project is Bridge Base Online (BBO), which he began in 2001, for online bridge play. BBO is one of the most popular bridge-playing sites. He officially retired from Bridge Base Online on July 12, 2019.

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

selected Gitelman as his personal bridge coach.

Creativity at the table

Gitelman is sometimes recognized for his creativity at the bridge table. In one tournament he discarded an Ace, as a signal to his partner to not lead that suit. His partner led the remaining logical suit which Gitelman, being void, ruffed.

Books

* ''Master Class: lessons from the bridge table'' (Toronto:

Master Point Press Master Point Press is a Canadian book publishing company located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It grew out of Canadian Master Point magazine (1992–1997), which was published by Ray and Linda Lee. The company began publishing books in 1994. While ...

, 2005), 207 pp. * ''Duplicate Bridge at Home: deals & scoring from Fred Gitelman's Bridge Base Online'',

Mark Horton Mark Horton may refer to: * Mark Horton (archaeologist) (born 1956), British maritime and historical archaeologist, television presenter and writer * Mark Horton (bridge) (born 1950), British author, journalist and expert on bridge * Mary Ann Horto ...

and Gitelman (Master Point, 2008), 264 pp. – "commentary by Mark Horton"

Bridge accomplishments

Awards

*ACBL Honorary Member of the Year 2005 *IBPA Personality of the Year Award 2005

Wins

World Bridge Championships The World Bridge Championships consists of several sets of championships organized under the auspices of the World Bridge Federation. World Bridge Series Championships ''World Bridge Series Championships'' is the new 2010 name for a quadrennial me ...

** Rosenblum (1) 2010 *

(6) **

Spingold The Spingold national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Spingold is a knock-out team event that attracts the top contract bridge players in the world. T ...

(2) 2005, 2010 **

Reisinger The Reisinger national bridge championship is held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Reisinger is a board-a-match event. History The event is contested for the Reisinger Trophy ( ...

(1) 2001 ** Open Board-a-Match Teams (1) 1998 **

Jacoby Open Swiss Teams The Jacoby Open Swiss Teams national bridge championship is held at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Jacoby Open Swiss Teams is a four session Swiss Teams event with two qualifying ...

(1) 2003 ** IMP Pairs (1) 2006 *United States Bridge Championships (1) ** Open Team Trials (1) 2005 *Canadian Championships (2) **National Team Championships (2) 1994, 1995 *Other notable wins: **

Buffett Cup The Buffett Cup is a bridge trophy which is awarded biennially in an event between teams from Europe and the United States. The tournament is modeled on the Ryder Cup golf competition and is held in the week preceding the golf event at a nearby lo ...

(1) 2006 **IOC Grand Prix (1) 2002 **Forbo-Krommenie Nations Cup (1) 2001 **Cavendish Invitational Teams (1) 2001 **Cavendish Invitational Pairs (1) 2003

Runners-up

(1) 1995 * World Transnational Open Teams (1) 2000 * World Junior Teams (1) 1991 *

(7) ** Vanderbilt (1) 2009 **

(1) 2000 **

(1) 2006 ** Open Board-a-Match Teams (1) 2002 **

(1) 2002 ** Life Master Pairs (1) 1999 ** Life Master Open Pairs (1) 2003 *United States Bridge Championships (2) ** Open Team Trials (2) 2006, 2007 *Other notable 2nd places: **Forbo-Krommenie Nations Cup (1) 2002

References

External links

*
Bridge Kids: Fred Gitleman
audio-video interview at YouTube (August 6, 2010)
Interview
at Bridgebum
Interview
by Lisa Bryn Rundle of ''University of Toronto Magazine'', Spring 2011
"In the Cards – A Conversation with Fred Gitelman"
(audio-video), ''Ideas Roadshow'', 2014
"Thanks, Fred Gitelman"
''bridgewinners.com'' July 14, 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gitelman, Fred 1965 births American contract bridge players Canadian contract bridge players Bermuda Bowl players Living people Sportspeople from Toronto