Claude Bloodgood
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Claude Frizzell Bloodgood III (alias: Klaus Frizzel Bluttgutt III; July 14, 1937 – August 4, 2001) was a controversial American
chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
player. As a young man, he got into trouble with the law and was arrested several times. He was
sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
in 1970 after having been convicted of murdering his mother, although this sentence was later commuted to life in prison. 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 The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, the World Chess Federation. US Chess administers the official national rating s ...
(USCF) by playing in a closed pool, which was due to 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
Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...
, who was a good amateur playe

Bloodgood was an active chess organizer in
Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...
,
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
in the late 1950s. He was the rating statistician for the Virginia State Chess Federation, where he rated himself at an
Elo rating The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor. The Elo system was invented as an improved ch ...
of 1956.


Prison career, chess and brief escape

In the early 1960s, he was twice convicted of burglary and served prison time in
Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
. He was also convicted of forgery of his parents' accounts, and spent more time in jail. In 1969, just nine days after being released from prison, he murdered his mother, Margaret Bloodgood (whom he later claimed to be his stepmother). According to reports, he rolled her body in a carpet and left it in Dismal Swamp, where it was soon found. His death sentence was ultimately commuted to
life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
after ''
Furman v. Georgia ''Furman v. Georgia'', 408 U.S. 238 (1972), was a landmark criminal case in which the United States Supreme Court invalidated all then existing legal constructions for the death penalty in the United States. It was 5–4 decision, with each mem ...
'', the 1972
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
ruling that the
death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
, as then administered, was
unconstitutional Constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; "Webster On Line" the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applicable constitution. When l ...
. 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 1.g4) . 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
habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...
with the courts. His contention was that the
death sentence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...
, later commuted to life, was based in part on the fact that he was a repeat offender, having been convicted twice of
burglary Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murder ...
in Delaware. But these convictions had been obtained before the U.S. Supreme Court decision of
Gideon v. Wainwright ''Gideon v. Wainwright'', 372 U.S. 335 (1963), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires U.S. states to provide attorneys to criminal defendants who are unable ...
which guaranteed the right to counsel. He argued that since no defense attorney had been assigned to him in the Delaware cases, the two convictions were unconstitutional and thus the Virginia death sentence was unconstitutional as well. The courts rejected his contentions, resulting in decisions of the
Virginia Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts, as well as the criminal law, family law and administrative ...
in Bloodgood v. Virginia and the
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Maryla ...
in Bloodgood v. Garraghty, 783 F.2d 470 (4th Cir. 1986).


High rank possibly via manipulation

Bloodgood organized chess games within
Powhatan Correctional Center The Powhatan people (; also spelled Powatan) may refer to any of the indigenous Algonquian people that are traditionally from eastern Virginia. All of the Powhatan groups descend from the Powhatan Confederacy. In some instances, The Powhatan ...
in
Powhatan, Virginia Powhatan is a census-designated place in and the county seat of Powhatan County, Virginia, United States. Powhatan was initially known as Scottville (after Revolutionary war hero General Charles Scott), and historically has also been known as Pow ...
, which were by necessity with fellow inmates. 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 Gata Kamsky ( tt-Cyrl, Гата Камский, italics=no; russian: Гата Камский; born June 2, 1974) is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and a five-time U.S. champion. Kamsky reached the final of the FIDE World Chess Cham ...
. 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
U.S. Chess Championship The U.S. Chess Championship is an invitational tournament held to determine the United States chess champion. Begun as a challenge match in 1845, the U.S. Championship has been decided by tournament play for most of its long history. Since 1936, i ...
, a prestigious invitation-only event intended for the best 16 players in the country. This caused an investigation by the USCF, which debated extensively what to do about the situation. In the end, Bloodgood wasn't invited to the event (which he could not have attended anyway), and the USCF changed its rating system rules to attempt to prevent "closed pool" ratings inflation from prison memberships.


Late prison career

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
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
or
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
and asked to be
extradited Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdict ...
to those countries or to be involved in
prisoner exchange A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners: prisoners of war, spies, hostages, etc. Sometimes, dead bodies are involved in an exchange. Geneva Conventions Under the Geneva Convent ...
. He also claimed to have been a
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
spy during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. He often gave interviews, trying to convince the interviewer that he was completely innocent of his crimes and a victim of mistaken identity. Bloodgood died in Powhatan Correctional Center of
lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...
on August 4, 2001.


Library

The
Cleveland Public Library Cleveland Public Library, located in Cleveland, Ohio, operates the Main Library on Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland, 27 branches throughout the city, a mobile library, a Public Administration Library in City Hall, and the Ohio Library for the ...
houses the Claude F. Bloodgood Collection,The Claude F. Bloodgood Collection
/ref> 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 Black resigns. (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 Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn may refer to: Common uses * Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them * Drawing (manufacturing), a process where metal, glass, or plastic or anything ...
.


Books

*''The Tactical Grob''. Chess, Sutton Coldfield 1976, ASIN B0007AQKAC (public domain e-book available vi
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). *''The Blackburne-Hartlaub Gambit: 1 d4 e5 2 dxe5 d6!? (Chess openings for hustlers)'' (1998).


References


External links

*
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 2002Claude F. Bloodgood Collection
at
Cleveland Public Library Cleveland Public Library, located in Cleveland, Ohio, operates the Main Library on Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland, 27 branches throughout the city, a mobile library, a Public Administration Library in City Hall, and the Ohio Library for the ...
. 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." {{DEFAULTSORT:Bloodgood, Claude 1937 births 2001 deaths American chess players American people convicted of murder Prisoners and detainees of Delaware Prisoners sentenced to death by Virginia American prisoners sentenced to death People convicted of murder by Virginia American people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Virginia detention Deaths from lung cancer in Virginia 20th-century chess players