Dan Harrington & Chess

[Somekid]

I was reading about Dan Harrington and heard that used to play Chess. Being a chess player turned poker player I am curious. Does anybody know about Harrington's chess career?

[slickpoppa]

He was MA state champion and had a pretty high rating. I think his rating is still posted on some chess sites, but I don't think he plays much anymore.

[ghcnoob]

If you go to the USCF website you can find a Dan Harrington with a rating in the 2300 range, but he's from CA, so that could be a coincidence.

[Punker]

I remember reading in Inside Chess back in 95 that there was a well known chess player named Dan Harrington but that it was NOT the WSOP champ Dan Harrington (Inside chess was apologizing for their error).

[EricOF]

I haven't seen his rating but I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's never been 2300 USCF. That's approaching International Master territory. You needn't have been that good to win an MA championship of some sort all those years ago. In a state like NY you probably needed at least that kind of strength though.

[Dynasty]

[ QUOTE ]
I haven't seen his rating but I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's never been 2300 USCF. That's approaching International Master territory. You needn't have been that good to win an MA championship of some sort all those years ago. In a state like NY you probably needed at least that kind of strength though.

[/ QUOTE ]

Here is an actual list of the Massachusetts state chess champions (http://masschess.org/Events/CrossTables/Historical_Information/Past_Mass_State_Champions.htm). As you can see, a player named John Curdo won many times between 1948 and 1985. He is definitely a USCF 2400+ caliber player (especially in his prime)

[EricOF]

Hrm well I have a pretty reliable source who tells me that he reached 2355 back then. Pretty impressive. I would have guessed 2200 or so. I don't think FIDE offered it's Master title back then but that's definitely in the typical FM territory.