Over time, he achieved a very high ranking in the United States Chess Federation (USCF) by playing in a closed pool, which allowed rating manipulation.
In 1955, Bloodgood played a number of chess games against actor Humphrey Bogart, who was a good amateur player.
[3][better source needed] Bloodgood was an active chess organizer in Hampton Roads, Virginia in the late 1950s.
In 1969, just nine days after being released from prison, he murdered his mother, Margaret Bloodgood (whom he later claimed to be his stepmother).
In 1974, Bloodgood and fellow inmate Lewis Capleaner received a furlough to play in a chess tournament.
His contention was that the death sentence, later commuted to life, was based in part on the fact that he was a repeat offender, having been convicted twice of burglary in Delaware.
But these convictions had been obtained before the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Gideon v. Wainwright which guaranteed the right to counsel.
[5] Late in life, Bloodgood made a variety of claims that seemed designed to obtain a release from prison.
He claimed to have been born in Germany or Mexico and asked to be extradited to those countries or to be involved in prisoner exchange.