John Curdo many not have been a grandmaster, or even an international master but he dominated New England Chess for decades. During his prime, he almost never left New England. Had he played more widely, he almost certainly would have earned the international master title and possibly the grandmaster title. When he did play grandmasters, he had his share of wins. For example, he crushed Kudrin at the Pillsbury Open in 1998 at the age of fifty (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nf6 5. Bb5 a6 6. Ba4 b5 7. Bb3 Nc6 8. Qd3 Bg7 9. O-O O-O 10. Nc3 d6 11. Bg5 Bb7 12. Rfe1 Na5 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Re8 15. Re2 h6 16. Bh4 g5 17. Bg3 Bxb2 18. Rae1 Bf6 19. h4 Qd7 20. hxg5 hxg5 21. Re6 Nxb3 22. cxb3 Kg7 23. Nd4 fxe6 24. Nxe6+ Kh6 25. f4 g4 26. Kf2 1-0). Here he beats a future grandmaster who, at the time, was a regular invitee to the US Closed Championships.

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