Episode 5.5: The Bonus - Chess Murderers

Rooked: The Cheaters' Gambit

In honour of International Women’s Day…this is not the episode on misogyny in chess that we teased last episode. How does that make sense? Well, we want to make sure we get such an important episode right. So instead of that episode, here’s a little bonus instead while we keep working to make sure the next episode is as good as we want it to be. Please enjoy this thrilling tale of two chess murderers: Alexander Pichushkin, aka The Chessboard Killer, and the conniving Claude Bloodgoode who killed his mother and manipulated the USCF rating system from within prison to become the second-highest rated player in the USA. Now, you might be thinking "How does this have anything to do with the Sinquefield Cup scandal?" The answer is, it doesn't - that's what makes this a bonus. Thank you to friend of the pod Trisha Bernardo for suggesting this episode.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode discusses horrendous serial killer murders - feel free to skip this one, it doesn’t have any bearing on the rest of the series.
Hosted by good producer / bad chess player Jess Schmidt and first-time podcaster / good chess player Ryan Webb, this series explores the events leading up to and following the Sinquefield Cup cheating scandal and tries to unravel the truth of what really happened - or, failing that, what the heck these events could mean to chess.
If you’d like to read a time-coded transcript of this or any other episodes, visit rookedpodcast.xyz/transcripts.
Support us on Patreon to access monthly bonus content: www.patreon.com/rooked
Written, hosted, edited, and produced by Jess Schmidt and Ryan Webb.
Music by Lorna Gildfedder.
Marketing by Bailey Simone Photography.
Further reading
https://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-criminals-and-the-games-they-play
https://www.chess.com/blog/Rodgy/how-an-inmate-became-americas-2
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