John Curdo
John Anthony Curdo is an American chess player from Auburn, Massachusetts, 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, he has been known for over 50 years as one of the strongest players in New England, with victories over Grandmasters Pal Benko, Robert Byrne, and Arthur Bisguier, 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 extended this to 865 tournament wins. His opening repertoire has remained relatively consistent throughout his career, and he is well known as an expert on the Dutch Defense and the Belgrade Gambit of the Four Knights Game. Curdo has published four game collections, including the annotated game collection Forty Years at the Top and the Chess Caviar series.
