Still making the right moves at 77

John Curdo, 77, competing in last Sunday’s Continental Open in Sturbridge, has 830 career chess tournament victories. (Christine Pearson for The Boston Globe)

By Mark Arsenault
Globe Correspondent

Still making the right moves
At 77, John Curdo, keeps foes in check as NE chess king

S TURBRIDGE – Many top chess players exhibit physical tics in the intensity of tournament play. John Curdo will pinch his cheek twice, then swipe a finger across his lip. Pinch, pinch, swipe, a fleeting, unconscious motion acquired over 60 years as one of New England’s top players.

With an aggressive style, Curdo has won six New England Open titles and 18 state championships, starting in 1948, when he took the Massachusetts title as a self-taught 16-year-old from Lynn. His 830 career tournament victories are believed to be a world record.

“He’s a legend,’’ said Larry Christiansen, of Cambridge, a three-time US chess champion. “I think one year in Massachusetts he won 40 tournaments, pretty much every weekend.’’

Now 77, Curdo, the onetime prodigy, still competes, but as an old warrior in a game dominated by young, agile minds and computer-study programs. Few have lasted so long. “People drop out because they get sick of getting whipped,’’ said Curdo of Auburn.

His last state championship was 24 years ago. “Back then, I was competitive,’’ he said. “You lose a lot with time,’’ Now when he plays, his hands shake. But he is still competing in 30 to 40 tournaments a year.

“Money is what gets me to do this,’’ Curdo said last Sunday at the Continental Open, a four-day tournament in Sturbridge. “The tension, it’s like gambling.’’

Curdo’s opponent on Sunday morning was Philip Sells of Albany, N.Y. In a cavernous hotel exhibition hall, dead silent despite more than 100 ongoing matches, Curdo pressed his attack against an opponent barely half his age.

“John Curdo always had the ability to attack very aggressively,’’ said Alan Trefler, chief executive of Pegasystems who in 1975 tied for the World Open title.

Curdo’s eyes darted. His hand repeated the flickering gesture: pinch, pinch, swipe. After 2 1/2 hours, Sells’s king was trapped. The younger man smiled and resigned with a handshake. He asked Curdo to autograph his scorecard, which Curdo did. Then, muttering under his breath, as in relief the match was over, Curto ambled away.

The victory kept Curdo in contention a little longer for hundreds of dollars in prize money. “If I had lost that game, I would have dropped out of the tournament,’’ he said.

With no chance to chase money, “there’d be no reason to play,’’ Curdo said.

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