John A Curdo
Number of games in database: 147
Years covered: 1948 to 2009
Last FIDE rating: 2231
Highest rating achieved in database: 2409
Overall record: +94 -39 =12 (69.0%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games
      Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.
      2 exhibition games, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:  Sicilian (34)      B51 B52 B31 B27 B28  French Defense (12)      C17 C11 C16 C18  Four Knights (9)      C48 C49 C47  French Winawer (9)      C17 C16 C18  Bird's Opening (6)      A02 A03  Pirc (5)      B09	With the Black pieces:  Ruy Lopez (16)      C73 C72 C74 C69 C68  Dutch Defense (13)      A88 A81 A85 A86  English (4)      A10

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   J Curdo vs J Fried, 1993 1-0
   J Curdo vs V Frenklakh, 1993 1-0
   J Curdo vs R Byrne, 1994 1-0
   C Tang vs J Curdo, 2001 0-1

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   US Open 1995, Concord by Phony Benoni

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FIDE player card for John A Curdo

JOHN A CURDO (born Nov-14-1931) United States of America [what is this?] FIDE master John Anthony Curdo was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, and has been among the leading players in New England for over 60 years. After learning chess by reading library books, he won the first of 17 Massachusetts Championships in 1948. In 1971, he was the first master to play a computer in a rated tournament (Greater Boston Open). More recently, he has won the U.S. Senior Championship. After working as an administrator for Honeywell in the 1960s and 1970s, Curdo became a full-time chess professional in the early 1980s. He is known for his aggressive style, and for playing in and winning a very large number of tournaments. As of 2009, he continues to play in 30 or 40 tournaments a year. As of December 2011, he had won a world-record 865 tournaments. His book "Forty Years at the Top" covers the highlights of his chess career. Wikipedia article: John Curdo

page 1 of 6; games 1-25 of 147  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. J Curdo vs H Daly 1-0 27 1948 Boston Metro league C11 French 2. W Adams vs J Curdo ½-½ 51 1948 New England Championship B12 Caro-Kann Defense 3. J Curdo vs S Wachs   1-0 40 1949 Interstate Team Match C18 French, Winawer 4. J Curdo vs H Lyman   1-0 30 1955 Worcestor C48 Four Knights 5. J Curdo vs H Lyman   0-1 21 1955 Westfield C47 Four Knights 6. J Curdo vs A Freeman   1-0 20 1957 Boston Metro league B02 Alekhine's Defense 7. Mednis vs J Curdo 0-1 32 1964 Hartford op C80 Ruy Lopez, Open 8. W Goichberg vs J Curdo   0-1 45 1964 US Open C26 Vienna 9. Vukcevich vs J Curdo   1-0 38 1964 Massachusetts Open C84 Ruy Lopez, Closed 10. Benko vs J Curdo 1-0 41 1969 Salem,NH A10 English 11. J Curdo vs D Kopec 1-0 29 1969 Salem Open B53 Sicilian 12. J Curdo vs J L Watson 1-0 27 1970 Boston Open B28 Sicilian, O'Kelly Variation 13. J Curdo vs B Robertie 1-0 21 1970 Boston Open A02 Bird's Opening 14. J Curdo vs N Weinstein 1-0 33 1970 Boston Open B31 Sicilian, Rossolimo Variation 15. J Curdo vs J Peters 1-0 35 1973 New England Open B80 Sicilian, Scheveningen 16. J Curdo vs Fedorowicz 1-0 26 1974 Boston Open B52 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky (Rossolimo) Attack 17. J Curdo vs P Kosztrewa 1-0 10 1976 Lawrence, MA C11 French 18. B Warnock vs J Curdo   1-0 59 1978 Central New England Spring Open C73 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defense 19. J Dunning vs J Curdo ½-½ 40 1979 Leominster A04 Reti Opening 20. J Curdo vs J Rizzitano   0-1 24 1981 Boston op B28 Sicilian, O'Kelly Variation 21. C Hartigan vs J Curdo   0-1 18 1981 Newton, MA D07 Queen's Gambit Declined, Chigorin Defense 22. Wolff vs J Curdo 0-1 28 1982 Franklin K Young Memorial C68 Ruy Lopez, Exchange 23. J Curdo vs J Yedidia 1-0 34 1982 Pillsbury Memorial C16 French, Winawer 24. J Curdo vs L Mercuri 1-0 18 1982 Portland Open C48 Four Knights 25. J Curdo vs T Cantin 1-0 23 1982 Central New England op C48 Four Knights  page 1 of 6; games 1-25 of 147

< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing> Apr-04-04    arthur nugent: Does anyone have Curdo's book Forty Years at the Top?Will buy or trade for it. arthur978@webtv.net Jul-05-04    Joshka: <arthur nugent> I remember very well, one of my first events in over-the-board chess, when I was living in the Boston area, maybe around 1977 or 1978, my first event was a simul, and cannot for the life of me remember if it was against Curdo, or Rizzitano...of course I lost both games...doubt if I can find the score sheets...but was so impressed with Curdo's professionalism, a true gent and so mild mannered!....didn't know he had a book out! May-18-05    chancho: John Curdo taught himself the game, and became a Master who won many, and I mean many local tournaments as well as U.S. Senior Champion twice.Imagine if this guy had the resources other players had, and a great person off the board as well. God bless him. May-18-05    chancho: Curdo has beaten players such as Mednis, Fedorowitz,Wolff,Ivanov,and drawn Browne,and those games aren't here, what gives? May-20-05    chancho: Benko,another Curdo victim. Has drawn with Kavalek.... etc. May-20-05    perfidious: The paucity of John's games here is simply another example of how untitled players' games were often passed by in the pre-database epoch; I've lost count of how many times John and I played in New England between 1978 and 2001, the last of which is on this site-it must be at least thirty-five times in all, and I was never even one of the very best players around, just a borderline 2300 level. Jun-03-05    chancho: <Arthurnugent> I'm 0-2 against you Arthur, would love a rematch someday. Nov-14-07    rogermorin: well guys,I seem to remember many of you.I'm roger morin Nov-14-07    RookFile: Curdo would have easily been an IM if there were the type of opportunities to get that title that there are today. Nov-14-07    goldenbear: Good to see that some of Curdo's games are here. He once told me that if I had any sense I would never study chess again, and other than looking at the recent super-GM games on this site, I haven't. A smart man! I was 19 when he said that. I am now 23. Dec-21-07    chancho: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C... Dec-19-09    FearNoEvil: I agree -- easily an IM and I think he was GM strength in his prime -- I lost to him about 50 times, with 7 draws, most of those games for first place. Joel Johnson Oct-04-10    perfidious: <FearNoEvil> No question about it, Joel-it was just that in his best days, American players had few chances for even IM norms, much less GM, unless they went to Europe. You remember, as I do, what it was like back then. The only player from New England who got invited to anything in those days was Norman Weinstein, and he was GM strength without a doubt. Dec-18-10    Nunc Temus: I have Curdo's book autographed by him... Jan-01-11    GrahamClayton: [Event "?"] [Site "Newton, MA"] [Date "1981.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Hartigan"] [Black "Curdo, John A"] [Result "0-1"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. cxd5 Qxd5 4. Nf3 e5 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. Bxc3 e4 8. Ne5 e3 9. Nxc6 exf2+ 10. Kxf2 Qxc6 11. d5 Qg6 12. e4 Nf6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6+ 14. Qf3 Qxb2+ 15. Be2 O-O 16. Rhc1 f5 17. Qc3 fxe4+ 18. Ke3 Qb6+ 0-1 Source: Bill Wall, “500 Queen’s Gambit Miniatures”, Chess Enterprises Inc, Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, 1985 Jan-25-11    Caissanist: When Jack Peters was asked why he moved from Massachusetts to California in the mid seventies, he said that he "got tired of playing John Curdo", after doing so 45 times. Jan-27-11    arthurp: John mentioned to me that he was more interested in prize money than a chess title.He was a professional player since the 70's.He made his living at chess. Jan-27-11    chancho: Interesting article on Curdo: http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma... Jan-28-11    Caissanist: Thanks for the link <chancho>. I have updated Curdo's bio with some information from that article. Jan-28-11    falso contacto: Este debe ser uno de aquellos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzJD.... Jan-28-11    falso contacto: para mí que juancito no se acuerda. Jan-31-11    perfidious: <Caissanist> Peters' comment is one I well remember from his interview in CL&R in 1977, and had he stayed in the area, they'd have met far more often. Even I played him 35-40 times from 1978-2001 (almost all in 1978-87), the last of which is in this DB. Mar-26-11    chancho: A picture of the Dean of New England Chess: +Connected,+Signed-On+8192009+84407+AM.jpg">http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Q0lTtPVTG... Apr-29-11    chancho: Curdo had many old issues from Chess Horizons (1982) with a painting of himself giving a simul as the cover. He gave me one. I remember seeing a crosstable in that issue where David Vigorito was rated 1345 (?) He of course is now an IM. Here's the painting: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Q0lTtPVTG... Apr-29-11    FSR: <chancho> Thanks, very interesting article. I wish I could get hold of copies of his books. < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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