Claude Bloodgood was rated around 1650 at age 16 and went as high as rating 2789 USCF. Granted, his talent is probably exceptional, but I highly recommend you use him as your chess role model. Not only that, but he acquired his exceptional rating in prison. If he is able to obtain such a high rating, that it is definitely possible.
Your chess role model? Really? He murdered his mother, and cheated to get to 2700. Someone please delete this forum.
From Wilipedia:
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.
He was cheating before cheating was a "thing".
Swiftie,
You may want to check out a Forum called “Encouraging Adult Master Improver Stories.”
Swiftie,
You may want to check out a Forum called “Encouraging Adult Master Improver Stories.”
nice, ty
reading there now
Erik is a neighbor... about 20 minutes from me. We play racquetball sometimes.
If you want to see some of Bloodgood's breathtaking genius, here are some games.
If you want to see some of Bloodgood's breathtaking genius, here are some games.
The board theme is really dizzying lol
Bloodgood seems to show no positional understanding
That is a common misconception. In fact his genius was so deep that people are still unable to understand his moves after years of studying.
Even Stockfish sometimes cannot correctly evaluate his gameplay until depth 50.
his extreme ability to evaluate positions is unparalleled. He often made grandmasters look like idiots with his intuition. Unfortunately, with this ability came severe mental deficits, leading him to kill others. However, as a chess player, he was a super genius among grandmasters.
That is the only possible explanation for his life story.
Ossip Bernstein had to play a chess game with his life on the line btw
Much has been written about Bloodgood that is exaggerated and misleading.
Yes, he obtained one of the highest ratings in the USCF.
No, he was not actually one of the strongest players in the country.
He received his high rating due to a flaw in the rating system. At one time, the USCf awarded 1 point to a player who won a game, even if the opponent was rated 800 or more points below the winner.
Bloodgood was serving a life sentence. He played many games a day against other prisoners, most of whom were much weaker than him. He accumulated scores of points every week and eventually became one of the highest rated players in the country. While he may have been a decent player (say, Expert or low Master), no one really considers him to be a GM
According to one account that I read, Bloodgood himself brought this flaw to the attention of the USCF Rating Committee. One of the committee’s annual reports in the 1990s (I forget which year) describes the corrections it made to the rating system.
Chess Life had a lengthy article on Bloodgood sometime back in the 1990s.
He should not be your role model for achieving a high rating in adulthood.