I received this email from my friend Michael Mulford, known as Mulfish on the USCF forum:
Michael Mulford
To:Michael Bacon
Aug 9 at 3:31 PM
Driving cross country so I haven’t monitored much. This was just posted.
http://henkeclarson.com/bradley-scott-cornelius/
Sent from my iPhone
My thanks to the Mulfish for sending this.
I headed to the USCF website (https://new.uschess.org/home/) in an attempt to locate where, exactly, this was posted, but was unable to do so. It is possible the notification was posted, then taken down, before I searched the website. This is rather strange, considering the fact that Mr. Cornelius died in battle across the Chess board. I have, therefore, decided to publish the notice. I did not know Bradley Scott Cornelius, but he was one of us. He was a class ‘B’ player. For many years the demarcation line between being consider a quality player was crossing the 1600 barrier. At the USCF website one can find this thread, Women State Chess Champion, under All Things Chess:
Postby nolan on Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:15 am #329784
“Here’s a table showing how many states have 3 more female current members active in the last year and rated 1600 or higher, and how many of those are under age 20.”
(http://www.uschess.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=24222)
It appears 1600 is still considered some kind of line to be crossed to be taken seriously as a Chess player. When a player becomes a class ‘B’ player he has stopped making piece losing and game losing moves with regularity. It does not happen often but class ‘B’ players have been known to upset GM’s. Ask GM John Fedorowicz.
Bradley Scott Cornelius
April 17, 1974 – August 5, 2018
Bradley Scott Cornelius
Bradley Scott Cornelius, age 44, of Janesville passed away unexpectedly of natural causes on Sunday, August 5, 2018 in Middleton, WI. Bradley was born on April 17, 1974 the son of Thomas W. Cornelius and the late Ruth (Rucks) Cornelius. Bradley graduated from Janesville Craig High School. He was a partner in the business of re-building and selling rebuilt boat motors. Bradley was active in coaching youth softball and attended Grace Evangelical Free Church at Afton.
Survivors include his father and step-mother, Thomas and Coletta Cornelius, his sister, Catherine Rae Cornelius all of Janesville. He was preceded in death by his mother and brother, Scott Ray Cornelius.
Services are at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, August 14, 2018 at Henke-Clarson Funeral Home, 1010 N. Wright Road, Janesville. Pastor Dennis Anderson will officiate. Interment will be in Milton Lawns Memorial Park. Visitation will be Tuesday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at Henke-Clarson Funeral Home.
Added: August 8th, 2018
Armchair Warrior 
I appreciate your honoring Brad Cornelius. I played in this US Open, and was in the room at the time he collapsed. We were deeply saddened. A whole group of us players went outside to guide the ambulance to the side door closest to where he was. The EMTs worked hard for a long time to try and revive him.
Regarding his rating, I did a player lookup on the USCF website, and saw that his rating went up significantly as a result of this tournament, squarely into the 1600s range. He put up a good fight, and was steadily improving! Our thoughts sympathies are with his family and friends.
Brad Cornelius was my best friend. He stayed at my house the Thursday before he passed and we went over that evenings game. He loved the competition that the Chess community provided as well as the friendships he created while playing. He was super exceited about the US Open being in Madison this year and even more excited with his results. I spoke at his funeral and made sure that everyone in attendance knew that he was both a gentleman and a competitor. Thank you for your kind words. He will be missed.
Respectfully,
Mark Spahos
[…] AW blog when I noticed someone had clicked onto an earlier post: Bradley Scott Cornelius R.I.P. (https://xpertchesslessons.wordpress.com/2018/08/10/bradley-scott-cornelius-r-i-p/) I could not recall the name or the post, so I clicked on over finding Michael Mulford, the […]