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Jonathan Corbblah

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Jonathan Corbblah
A black man in a grey polo shirt is seated at a table, facing left of frame.
Corbblah in 2015
Born1978/1979 (age 44–45)
Occupations
  • Coach
  • teacher
Known forCompeting on game shows
TitleMaster

Jonathan Corbblah (born 1978 or 1979) is a chess master from New York City, known for appearing on as many American game shows as possible.

Personal life

Jonathan Corbblah was born in 1978 or 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.[1] By February 2014, he was coaching individuals and teams for national trivia championships, and taught Scrabble[2] to schoolchildren.[1]

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 Elo rating of 2262, earned in 2019.[3] By 2014, he was a chess master.[2]

Corbblah was eleven years old in 1990 when he appeared on his first game show, PBS' Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?.[1] 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";[4] he has appeared on at least seven.

Date(s) Show Result Citation(s)
1990 Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? A basketball and US$100 (equivalent to $233.21 in 2023) [1]
July 23, 2004 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire US$32,000 (equivalent to $51,619 in 2023) [5]
December 13, 2010 
December 14, 2010
Jeopardy! $14,000 (equivalent to $19,561 in 2023) [5]
August 6, 2013 The Chase $60,000 (equivalent to $78,480 in 2023)
Shared with two other contestants
[5]
December 17, 2014 Wheel of Fortune $14,500 (equivalent to $18,662 in 2023) [5]
May 21, 2015 500 Questions Unable to defeat Steve Bahnaman [5]

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.[5] He has also won $1,500 on Cash Cab.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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.
  2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ "USCF Ratings History Graph for 12758690". United States Chess Federation. Archived from the original on April 12, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  4. ^ "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.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Jonathan Corbblah". J! Archive. Archived from the original on April 16, 2023. Retrieved August 30, 2023.