Jonathan Corbblah

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Jonathan Corbblah
Jonathan Corbblah.jpg
Corbblah in 2015
Born1979 (age 45–46)
Occupations
  • Coach
  • teacher
Known forCompeting on game shows

Jonathan Corbblah (born 1979) is a chess master from New York City, known for his appearances on many American game shows.

Contents

Personal life

Jonathan Corbblah was born in 1979. [1] As a child, he was almost held back in the first grade because he was illiterate; after his father—a Christian preacher —spent the summer drilling academics non-stop, by the next academic year, he was ahead of his second-grade class. [2]

As of December 2010, he was married and living in Harlem. [3] By February 2014, he was coaching individuals and teams for national trivia championships, and taught Scrabble [2] to schoolchildren. [3]

Games and game shows

Corbblah learned to play chess at age six or seven. [2] According to the United States Chess Federation, since he began playing ranked matches in the late 1990s, Corbblah has a top regular Elo rating of 2199 (earned between 2010 and 2014) and a top blitz rating of 2262 (in 2019). [4] In December 2002, he became a USCF Candidate Master, [5] and in 2014, Pacific Standard reported he was a master-level chess player. [2]

Corbblah was eleven years old in 1990 when he appeared on his first game show, PBS' Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?. [3] In December 2010, after his two days on Jeopardy! , he told ABC News that "I'm trying to go on as many possible game shows as I can"; [6] he has appeared on at least seven.

Date(s)ShowResultCitation(s)
1990 Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? A basketball and US$100(equivalent to $240.68 in 2024) [3]
July 23, 2004 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire US$32,000(equivalent to $53,271 in 2024) [7]
December 13, 2010 
December 14, 2010		 Jeopardy! $14,000(equivalent to $20,187 in 2024) [7]
August 6, 2013 The Chase $60,000(equivalent to $80,991 in 2024)
Shared with two other contestants		 [7]
December 17, 2014 Wheel of Fortune $14,500(equivalent to $19,259 in 2024) [7]
May 21, 2015 500 Questions Unable to defeat Steve Bahnaman [7]

In summer 2019, he was a guest expert on several episodes of Best Ever Trivia Show , and then as a master mind on several 2020–2021 episodes of Master Minds. [7] He has also won $1,500 on Cash Cab. [3]

References

  1. ↑ "Corbblah, Jonathan". International Chess Federation. Archived from the original on March 10, 2025. Retrieved March 10, 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 David, Noah (June 14, 2017) [2014-02-18]. "What Makes You So Smart, Jonathan Corbblah?". Pacific Standard . ISSN   1941-5672. Archived from the original on April 17, 2023. Retrieved August 30, 2023. Jonathan Corbblah wants to be on more trivia shows than any other human being ever has. He talked to Noah Davis.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Fanelli, James (December 15, 2010). "Harlem man Jonathan Corbblah settin' a record on TV, wins money on 'Jeopardy' and 'Cash Cab'". Daily News . ISSN   2692-1251. OCLC   9541172. Archived from the original on April 17, 2023. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  4. ↑ "USCF Ratings History Graph for 12758690". United States Chess Federation. Archived from the original on April 12, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Milestones History". United States Chess Federation. Archived from the original on January 11, 2024. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
  6. ↑ "The Conversation: 'Game Show Guy' Jonathan Corbblah". ABC News. December 20, 2010. Archived from the original on April 16, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2023. New York man has an unusual hobby: appearing on TV game shows.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Jonathan Corbblah". J! Archive. Archived from the original on April 16, 2023. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
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