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Claude Bloodgood

Claude Frizzel Bloodgood (born Klaus Frizzel Bluttgutt III on July 14, 1937, died 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 ultimately received the death penalty after being convicted of murdering his mother. 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 manipulating the ratings system in use at the time.

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Early Chess career

Bloodgood was an active chess organizer in Hampton Roads, Virginia in the late 1950s. He was the rating statistician for the Virginia State Chess Federation, where he rated himself at 1656.

Prison career, chess and brief escape

In the early 1960s, he was twice convicted of burglary and served prison time in Delaware. He was also convicted of forgery of his parents' accounts, and spent more time in jail. Nine days after being released from prison 1969, he allegedly murdered his mother. 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 when the U.S. Supreme Court found the death penalty to be unconstitutional.

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 with the Supreme Court of Virginia. His contention was that the death sentence, later commuted to life, was based in part on the fact that he was a repeat offender, having been convicted twice of burglary in Delaware. However, these convictions had been obtained prior to the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Gideon v. Wainwright 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 was well. The court rejected his contentions, resulting in two decisions of the Virginia Supreme Court in Bloodgood v. Virginia and Bloodgood v. Garraghty, 783 F.2d 470, 475 (4th Cir. 1986).

High rank via manipulation

Bloodgood organized chess games within Powhatan Prison, primarily with inmates who were, for the most, very weak players. He got USCF memberships for them and, with his intimate knowledge of the rating system, rigged their ratings. 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 then played rated games against the new highly rated prisoner, and each time he won, gained a few more rating points. He continued this scheme for several years, and by 1996 his rating rose to 2702, making him the second highest rated player in the nation. In comparison, at his retirement Bobby Fischer's rating was 2760, and several leading grandmasters were in the 2600s. And here was a 59 year old inmate (with no title from the World Chess Federation) a heartbeat away from the top! This of course was not acceptable.

Bloodgood previously warned USCF its system was prone to "closed pool" abuses, but nothing was done until his own ranking skyrocketed. He even qualified for entry into the U.S. Chess Championship, a prestigious closed invitational event intended for only the best 16 players in the country. His manipulations caused a crisis in the USCF, which debated extensively what to do about him. In the end, he wasn't invitated to the event (which he could not have attended anyway), and USCF had to change its rules to attempt to prevent further abuses.

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 or Mexico and asked to be extradited to those countries or to be involved in prisoner exchange. He also claimed to a Nazi spy during World War II. 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 Prison of lung cancer on August 4, 2001.

Games

Bloodgood - Cetenski Winston - Salem Ladder, 3rd match game November 10, 1971 (in algebraic notation, notes by Bloodgood): 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2 Qb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.f5 Nc6 11.fe fe 12.Nc6 bc 13.e5! de 14.Bf6 gf 15.Ne4 f5? (15...Be7) 16.Be2 Be7 (if 16...fe 17.Bh5 Ke7 18.O-O Qd6 19.Rf7 Kd8 20.Rf8 wins) 17.Bh5 Kf8 18.Qh6 Kg8 19.Rb3 Black Resigns. In the note to Black's 16th, modern computer analysis prefers 18.Rf1. The program also says that after 19...Kd8 20.Qa5 Ke8 21.Rh7 mate is better.

Bloodgood (2250 postal) - Barnsley (2475 postal, British Postal Champion), correspondence game 1997: 1.Nf3 d5 2.b3 c5 3.e4 de 4.Ne5 Nd7 5.Bb5 a6 6.Bd7 Bd7 7.Bb2 Bf5 8.O-O e6 9.f3 ef 10.Qf3 Qc7 11.Na3 f6 12.g4 Bg6 13.Rae1 O-O-O 14.Nce4 h5 15.g5 Bf5 16.gf gf 17.Bc3 Qg7 18.Kh1 Rh6 19.Ba5 Rd4 20.Nb6 Kb8 21.Nac4 Qc7 22.Nd5 Qc6 23.Bc7 Ka7 24.Bb6 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 0875682898
  • The Blackburne-Hartlaub Gambit: 1 d4 e5 2 dxe5 d6!? (Chess openings for hustlers) (1998). ISBN 0875682928

External links