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| Aug-07-14 | | zanzibar: I think he's intending to keep at it till he gets his 900th... <How close is John Curdo of Auburn in winning (or tying for first) in 900 chess events since 1948? Remarkably close: John has to win just four more events to set this awesome mark in his long career. Asked about his plans for another book, Curdo revealed that some of his fans from the Metrowest area will at some point offer them as a collection online or via an e-book to mark that 900th win, including 16 Massachusetts Open titles, mostly between 1948 and the 1970s.> — Stephen Dann
Chess
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Sunday, June 22, 2014
http://www.telegram.com/article/201... John is also still engaged in some of his usual "off-board antics", e.g. judging games at the 2103 82th Mass Open and others: http://blog.chesscafe.com/?p=1327
I think he's out Worcester way the most. |
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Aug-07-14
 | | perfidious: Note at the bottom of one link provided by <zanzibar>: < David Couture of Westminster continues collecting his losses due to a tactical finesse into a growing e-book called "Don't Play Like Me".> Wish he had contacted me--I could provide scads of material for that book! |
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| Aug-07-14 | | zanzibar: <perfidious> Ha! It's not published yet... perhaps it's not too late. |
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Jan-17-15
 | | Joshka: Didn't know he holds the record for tourney wins!!!!.....wow..and still the USCF will not instill the IM title to him, what a crying shame!!! Met him in a simul and he was one of my "first impressions' of the gentlemen chess player, I'll never forget. |
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| Apr-13-15 | | RookFile: He could have gotten it back in the day pretty easily, but it just wasn't important to him. I remember seeing his rating north of 2500 on the wall charts. |
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| Oct-26-15 | | zanzibar: Has anybody read Joel Johnson's <Formation Attack Strategies>? In particular, his comments about Curdo (p56)? |
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Oct-27-15
| | perfidious: <zed> Have not seen it; all I know is that Curdo gave Joel (aka <FearNoEvil> hereabouts) a rough go of it. While Joel was always a superb tactician, that sort of game was Curdo's meat as well. |
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Oct-27-15
 | | chancho: You can read page 56 here:
https://books.google.com.pr/books?i... |
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| Oct-27-15 | | zanzibar: Anybody ever play on Curdo's set?
Or see what's inside the little black book? |
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Oct-27-15
| | perfidious: <zed: Anybody ever play on Curdo's set?> Many times.
<Or see what's inside the little black book?> Never. |
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Oct-27-15
| | chancho: What's inside Curdo's "black book?"
Here, have a look:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012... |
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Oct-27-15
| | perfidious: 'Lively', eh? |
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| Oct-27-15 | | zanzibar: <chancho> good one! <perf> I take it you didn't have any qualms using John's set then? |
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Oct-27-15
| | perfidious: <zed> Never bothered me to use John's stuff; there were some who clearly preferred their gear--a strong player in numerous Montreal blitz events I played in the nineties always invoked the rule of using his clock when Black. |
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| Oct-27-15 | | zanzibar: There's the rule about sharing a pie, one guy cuts it, and the other guy gets first pick of the slice. So Black gets to decide what equipment is used as well as which side the clock goes on? Hmmm...
Some of the various rules that apply for USCF are referenced here, where the case of Black being late to the game is discussed: http://www.chess.com/forum/view/gen... |
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| Apr-18-16 | | RookFile: I played Curdo 5 or 6 times, don't remember a black book. Maybe he didn't need it against me. |
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May-03-16
| | chancho: A link with a 1949 graduation article from the Daily Evening Item. (Lynn, MA)
http://www.lvtiaa.com/Home/daily-it... Check the list of graduates under <awards diplomas> |
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| Dec-10-16 | | Caissanist: Still playing in, and winning, local tournaments in Massachusetts: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain... . His rating seems to be bouncing along in the low 2200s, although mostly staying above the 2200 floor. Curdo certainly seems to be the strongest active player over 80 in this country, I wonder if there are stronger players that old in other countries. |
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| Dec-10-16 | | RookFile: Spassky is going to be 80 next month. |
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| Dec-10-16 | | zanzibar: Curdo is 85 and still grinding out weekend Swiss tournaments. Of course, it represents his spending money, but still... Spassky's last active games on <CG> are from his match with Korchnoi: http://www.chessintranslation.com/2... has some quotes from Spassky about it.
<CG> has a tournament page, with no intro. Thank goodness <CB> keeps its pages active (at least for now): https://en.chessbase.com/post/korch... https://en.chessbase.com/post/korch... The "sleepy bear" did pretty good. |
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Dec-10-16
| | chancho: <Shelby Lyman: I recall with almost a kind of dread a scene from the late ’60s: an early confrontation between man and machine. The human was John Curdo, a gifted and dominant New England chess master. His opponent, MacHack VI, one of the first computer chess-playing programs. It was scary because <<<Curdo seemed frightened>>>> <and isolated in the company of his unusual opponent, apparently a new experience for him.><I don’t remember who won the game, but I do know that Bobby Fischer later beat MacHack with ease.Fischer, always the supreme realist when evaluating chess play, was one of the first to predict that chess machines would outstrip humans. He seemed to accept the notion matter-of-factly, although he was later to decry their influence on the game, concluding incorrectly that they had destroyed “classical” chess. Garry Kasparov, who was terrified as a young world champion at the possibility of computer supremacy, sounded the death knell for his species when he was defeated by IBM’s Deep Blue in 1997, claiming afterward – a thesis taken seriously by few – that IBM had cheated during the match. Today, their dramatic confrontation is no more than a moment in the modern prehistory of the game. In a recent interview, Magnus Carlsen explains that computers are no longer adversaries but a useful adjunct to the modern game. Would he play one?
Of course not, he admits. He would lose easily.> |
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| Jan-19-17 | | Caissanist: Methinks that Lyman is dramatizing things a bit here. If he was indeed working as a sysadmin at the time, Curdo would presumably have known a few things about not only chess but computers as well. The first computer tournament win against a human didn't come until 1967, when MacHack (aka Greenblatt (Computer)) beat a 1500 player. The first win over a master was in 1980. |
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| Jan-19-17 | | Granny O Doul: I played Curdo just once, on his set, though I never had the honor of playing Pal Benko on his drug store set, the type with a backgammon board on the reverse side. |
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Mar-23-17
 | | mjmorri: During the mid 80's my college friends and I played in a few local tournaments in Massachusetts. When John showed up, my friends and I remarked how John, wearing jeans and a flannel shirt, looked like a farmer who had just come in from plowing his fields. By the end of the weekend, he had usually won the tournament, quietly leaving presumably to finish his plowing. |
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Mar-23-17
| | perfidious: That about says it all: John was unpretentious in appearance and mild in temperament while always correct in his behaviour at the board. For all that, John was one tough, aggressive opponent who would easily have made IM level at his zenith, had he played much outside the weekend swiss circuit. |
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