Claude Bloodgood
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| Claude Frizzell Bloodgood | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Claude Frizzell Bloodgood III |
| Country | United States |
| Born | July 14, 1937 Norfolk, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | August 4, 2001 (aged 64) Powhatan, Virginia, U.S. |
| Peak rating | 2789 (June 11, 1996) (United States Chess Federation)[1] |
Claude Frizzell Bloodgood III (alias: Klaus Frizzel Bluttgutt III; July 14, 1937 – August 4, 2001) was a controversial American chess player. As a young man, he got into trouble with the law and was arrested several times. He was sentenced to death in 1970 after having been convicted of murdering his mother, although this sentence was later commuted to life in prison.[2] While in prison, he remained a very active chess player, playing a large number of correspondence games and rated games with other inmates. Over time, he achieved a very high ranking in the United States Chess Federation (USCF) by playing in a closed pool, which allowed rating manipulation. He died in prison in 2001.
Early life
Bloodgood was born in Norfolk, Virginia to Claude Frizzell Bloodgood Jr. and Margaret B. Howell.
Early chess career
In 1955, Bloodgood played a number of chess games against actor
Bloodgood was an active chess organizer in
Life in prison, chess and brief escape
In the early 1960s, he was twice convicted of burglary and served prison time in
From prison, Bloodgood played thousands of chess games by mail, as well as thousands with fellow inmates. He also published three books on chess openings, including The Tactical Grob (on
In 1974, Bloodgood and fellow inmate Lewis Capleaner received a furlough to play in a chess tournament. They overpowered the single guard assigned to them and escaped, but they were recaptured after a few days.
Legal challenges
Bloodgood filed two petitions for
High rank possibly via manipulation
Bloodgood organized chess games within Powhatan Correctional Center in Powhatan, Virginia, which were by necessity with fellow inmates.[4] Many of these inmates were taught the game by Bloodgood, and thus began as unrated and inexperienced players. Bloodgood obtained USCF memberships for them. Some accused Bloodgood, with his intimate knowledge of the rating system, of rigging their ratings. The accusation was that he arranged for new prisoners to play rated games against other prisoners, who would deliberately lose, thus giving the new inmate an inflated USCF rating. Bloodgood, it is further alleged, then played rated games against the new highly rated prisoner, and each time he won, gained a few more rating points. This continued for several years, and by 1997 his rating rose to 2759, making the 59-year-old Bloodgood the second highest rated player in the nation, behind only Gata Kamsky.
This is all a matter of considerable controversy even today. Bloodgood himself vehemently denied these accusations, and said that he played chess in the only competitions available to him, prison tournaments, and won almost every game because he was the strongest player in the prison system. As his rating rose, he wrote to the USCF to warn them that its system was prone to "closed pool" rating inflation. But nothing was done until Bloodgood's rating skyrocketed. By virtue of his high rating, Bloodgood would have qualified for entry into the
Later life in prison
Late in life, Bloodgood made a variety of claims that seemed designed to obtain a release from prison. For example, he claimed to have been born in 1924 and asked for a furlough based on old age. He claimed to have been born in
Library
The Cleveland Public Library houses the Claude F. Bloodgood Collection,[6] which "contains the personal papers of Claude F. Bloodgood, including legal documents, medical and other prison records, and chess related items."
Sample games
- Bloodgood vs. Cetenski, Winston-Salem Ladder, third match game, November 10, 1971:
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.f5 Nc6 11.fxe6 fxe6 12.Nxc6 bxc6 13.e5! dxe5 14.Bxf6 gxf6 15.Ne4 f5? (15...Be7) 16.Be2 Be7 (if 16...fxe5 17.Bh5+ Ke7 18.0-0 Qd6 19.Rf7+ Kd8 20.Rxf8+ wins) 17.Bh5+ Kf8 18.Qh6+ Kg8 19.Rb3 1–0 Blackresigns. (Notes by Bloodgood.) - Bloodgood (2250 postal) vs. Barnsley (2475 postal, British Postal Champion), correspondence game 1997:
1.Nf3 d5 2.b3 c5 3.e4 dxe4 4.Ne5 Nd7 5.Bb5 a6 6.Bxd7+ Bxd7 7.Bb2 Bf5 8.0-0 e6 9.f3 exf3 10.Qxf3 Qc7 11.Na3 f6 12.g4 Bg6 13.Rae1 0-0-0 14.Nec4 h5 15.g5 Bf5 16.gxf6 gxf6 17.Bc3 Qg7+ 18.Kh1 Rh6 19.Ba5 Rd4 20.Nb6+ Kb8 21.Nac4 Qc7 22.Nd5 Qc6 23.Bc7+ Ka7 24.Bb6+ ½–½ draw.
Books
- The Tactical Grob. Chess, Sutton Coldfield 1976, ASIN B0007AQKAC (public domain e-book available via this page)
- Nimzovich attack: the Norfolk gambits, 1 Nf3 d5 2 b3 c5 3 e4 or 1 Nf3 d5 2 b3 Nf6 3 Bb2 c5 4 e4. Chess Digest, Grand Prairie (1997). ISBN 0-87568-289-8
- The Blackburne-Hartlaub Gambit: 1 d4 e5 2 dxe5 d6!? (Chess openings for hustlers) (1998). ISBN 0-87568-292-8
References
- ^ http://www.uschess.org/datapage/gamestats.php?memid=12603896.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ISBN 978-0-312-27293-7.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Chesscafe: Claude Bloodgood Archived July 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Report of the USCF Ratings Committee, August 1997" (PDF). www.glicko.net.
- ^ The Claude F. Bloodgood Collection
External links
- Claude Bloodgood player profile and games at Chessgames.com
- Hans Ree article (pdf)
- Marc Davis: The convict who would be king. In: Chess Bits: the journal of the International E-mail Chess Club, October 2002
- Claude F. Bloodgood Collection at Cleveland Public Library. According to the guide, "The Bloodgood Collection contains the personal papers of Claude Bloodgood, including legal documents, medical, and other prison records, and chess related items."
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