John Anthony Curdo (November 14, 1931 – September 30, 2022) was an American chess player from

Auburn, Massachusetts Auburn is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 16,889 at the 2020 census. History The Auburn area was first settled in 1714 as of today outer parts of Worcester, Sutton, Leicester and Oxford, Massachusett ...

, best known for winning the Massachusetts state championship 17 times between 1948 and 1985, as well as the US Senior Championship. Though Curdo never attained the rank of Grandmaster or

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

, he was known for over 50 years as one of the strongest players in New England, with victories over Grandmasters

Pal Benko Pál C. Benkő ( hu, Benkő Pál; July 15, 1928 – August 26, 2019) was a Hungarian Americans, Hungarian-American chess player, author, and Chess composer, composer of Endgame study, endgame studies and chess problems. Early life Benko was ...

, Robert Byrne, and

Arthur Bisguier Arthur Bernard Bisguier (October 8, 1929April 5, 2017), paternal surname Bisgeier, was an American chess player, chess promoter, and writer who held the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). Bisguier won two U.S. Junior Championships (1948, 1949), ...

, among many others. At his peak, his United States Chess Federation rating exceeded 2500. As of August 2009, Curdo had won 830 tournaments over the course of his career, a number believed to be a world record by a wide margin. By December 2011, he had attained 865 tournament wins, while in 2018 he had extended the number to 1000 tournament victories. His opening repertoire remained relatively consistent throughout his career, and he was well known as an expert on the

Dutch Defense The Dutch Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. d4 f5 Black's 1...f5 stakes a claim to the e4-square and envisions an attack in the middlegame on White's ; however, it also weakens Black's kingside to an extent (especia ...

and the Belgrade Gambit of the

Four Knights Game The Four Knights Game is a chess opening that begins with the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Nc3 Nf6 This is the most common sequence, but the knights may in any order to reach the same position. The opening is fairly popular with begin ...

. Curdo published four game collections, including the annotated game collection ''Forty Years at the Top'' and the ''Chess Caviar'' series (''Chess Caviar'', ''More Chess Caviar'' and ''Still More Chess Caviar'').

Selected Game

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1361815 Curdo vs. GM Robert Byrne, US Open, August 10, 1994. In a wild Sicilian, Curdo uncorks a blistering mating combination. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4 Nf6 5.e5 Qa5+ 6.Nc3 Ne4 7.Bd2 Nxc3 8.Bxd7+ Bxd7 9.Bxc3 Qa6 10.d5 e6 11.Ng5 dxe5 12.Qf3 f6 13.dxe6 Bc6 14.Qf5 Be7 15.O-O-O g6 16.Qh3 fxg5 17.Bxe5 O-O 18.Qh6 Rf6 19.h4 Qxa2 20.Qxh7+ Kxh7 21.hxg5+ Kg8 22.gxf6 1-0

References

External links

Selected games of John Curdo at Chessgames.com

Excerpt from ''Forty Years At the Top'', at Chesscafe.com
1931 births American chess players Chess FIDE Masters {{US-chess-bio-stub