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Chessville
From the
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The Life and Legend of
Chaude Bloodgood Part I
If this is not so, who can prove me false, and reduce my words to nothing? (Job 24:23) As mentioned in Part I, the early life of Claude Bloodgood presents us with an odd type of blank: neither much in the way of documents nor eye witnesses seems to exist. Now, for anyone born in the last century, that’s something of an anomaly. This absence of detail might be easily ignored, or filled in with a few ad hoc prosaic stokes, were it not for the very peculiar shading that Bloodgood himself insisted upon… South of the Border Bloodgood claimed to have been born Klaus Bluttgutt, in 1924, in La Paz, Mexico, to German nationals, who were residing there on business. At the age of three, he learned chess from his father, Klaus, Sr. Within a few short years after his birth, for unexplained reasons, Bloodgood’s mother disappears from the picture, leaving father and young son alone. During this same period (the middle-to-late 1920’s), the Nazi party is gaining influence in Germany; by 1933 they are in power. Klaus Sr., a Nazi member, had been recruited into the Abwehr, the Nazi counter-intelligence organization, (see note 1). None of the foregoing is necessarily improbable. That a great number of German businessmen were abroad (particularly in South America) during the time in question, and that many of them were also in the pay of the Abwehr, is documented. Regarding Klaus Senior’s affiliations, and, more particularly, the 1924 birth-date, we have only the negative proof that, despite various attempts, no one has been able to disprove these assertions. Take Me Back to Old Virginia By the late 1930’s, to continue this curious tale, the Abwehr is claimed to have ordered Klaus Sr., and son to take up positions as undercover operatives within the U.S. False documents and money were provided, and the two traveled to Virginia, eventually taking jobs in the Norfolk naval yards. Sometime around 1939, Claude Bloodgood,Sr., as the father was now known, took a local woman, Margaret, as wife. Our story now takes an abrupt U-turn, or, more specifically, a U-boat turn, away from the Virginia coastline to a waiting German spy submarine. In 1940, with the Fatherland now deep into the Second World War, the 16 year old Bloodgood is transported to Kiel Naval Academy in Germany for espionage training.
Simply as a matter of common cultural heritage, most, if not all, German officers, and the majority of the enlisted men as well, would have been familiar with chess. On an official level, however, the Nazis, unlike the Communists, placed no particular ideological pretensions upon chess, and thus their involvement was limited (for example, it might well be argued that the 1942 Salzburg tournament, and similar events, were solely the fortuitous outcome of the Nazis happening to be “in possession” of Alekhine). (See note 5). His Abwehr training completed, Bloodgood returned to the U.S. as an undercover courier. Several times a year, from 1942 – 1945, via a small sea-craft, a German sub was met off the Virginia coastline. Information and money was handed-off to Bloodgood, who then relayed on to his father. Sometime in 1945 one of these missions went badly awry: all aboard the sub were killed or captured, save our man Bloodgood. …and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you! (Job 1:17) Hollywood, Hollywood Of Bloodgood’s activities during the years immediately following the war, other than he rejoined his father and the two resumed their prosaic identities, we know nothing. By Bloodgood’s own admission, however, their relationship had become strained. In 1954 the two part ways, with the son joining the Marines. Bloodgood’s time as one of the “few and the proud” is, again, largely a blank to us. It may, however, be safely assumed that he discharged his duties satisfactorily because he did receive Veteran’s Benefits late in life. The “legendary claim” of this period concerns chess games against various Hollywood stars (for example, James Mason, Gary Cooper, and Richard Widmark). The story runs that Bloodgood, stationed near San Diego, had been hospitalized with a foot injury. As was not uncommon at the time, celebrities would visit laid-up military personnel. Thus it was that Bloodgood met that chess-playing tough guy, Humphrey Bogart. Although the evidence is fragmentary and anecdotal, it is likely, that at least in some degree, these claims may be true. Certainly the most famous of Bloodgood’s alleged Hollywood victories is the following game against Bogart. Apocryphal or not, I like it as a tactical miniature. The notes are by myself.
Humphrey Bogart? - C Bloodgood
Mexico Revisited: Jail, Tournaments, and Grayson As detailed in Part I, from 1956-61, Bloodgood had entered upon a successful tournament career in Virginia. Neither then nor now, however, does amateur chess do much in the way of paying the rent: from 1962 – 64, and again from 1965 – 66, Bloodgood was imprisoned for fourth degree burglary. FBI records, copies of which have been deposited in the Bloodgood collection at the Cleveland Public Library by Don Wedding (see Interview), indicate that in May 1966 Bloodgood was arrested in Mexico and deported back to the U.S. Certain details concerning this event are still classified by the FBI.
Nazi Gold and Murder In late 1968, Bloodgood’s father passed away; he left his son an inheritance of 100 dollars, and nothing more. Shortly after this time a charge of check forgery is brought against Bloodgood by his (step)mother, Margaret Bloodgood. To recap the fiasco which ensued (for details, refer to Part I) : 1) Bloodgood is brought to trail, during which he publicly threatens the life of his accuser. He is convicted, and serves one year; 2) within days of his release, Margaret Bloodgood is found brutally murdered; 3) Bloodgood is arrested for the murder, and rapidly convicted. He will spend the remainder of his life in prison.
Coda Richard ‘Tis done by me, and ends in “Margaret”. Queen Elizabeth Thus have you breathed your curse against yourself. (Richard III 1.3) Notes 1. More info on the Abwehr may be found at http://section2.wwiionline.org/index.htm and http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERabwehr.htm. 2. A bio on Canaris is located at http://aia.lackland.af.mil/homepages/pa/spokesman/Jan02/heritage.cfm Also see http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERheydrich.htm for how successful the Nazis were at forging documents. 3. Some info on the Desert Fox http://www.achtungpanzer.com/gen1.htm. 4. Info on Himmler: http://www.brainyencyclopedia.com/encyclopedia/h/he/heinrich_himmler.html and a most fascinating photo can be seen by going to http://www.ushmm.org and using their search-engine for [Photograph #60477]. 5. My own article Klaus Junge: Forgotten Talent contains more details on these points. 6. The photo of Kathryn Grayson is from http://cyndi.com/mcart/index, and a brief bio can be found at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0337113/bio. For more eye candy on KG, check http://www.collectinghollywood.com/KGrayson.htm. 7. The excellent photo at the top of the page is from http://history1900s.about.com. It is used with their express permission. It is a reproduction of a poster from the 1935 German Referendum. The caption reads "Check the war-mongers of the world. Every vote for the Führer!" This site is a tremendous history resource, and I highly recommend it. 8. An updated pgn, containing 47 additional games!, has kindly been sent to me by Rick Kennedy. A big tremendous thanks, again, Rick!
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