Military Chess / 2015 Armed Forces Championship Trying to tempt me to weaken my kingside.
11. g4 Qh4
were forced to play on the floor! Another participant also played in Afghanistan.
Looks more dangerous than real.
12. gxf5 exf5 13. f4 Let’s close that diagonal!
13. ... f6 14. Nd3 0-0 14. ... Nd7 or 14. ... Na6 needed to be played. 15. c5 Bc7 16. Qb3+ Kh8
16. ... Rf7 does not help when 17. Qxb7 still works due to 17. ... Bxf4 18. Qc8+ Rf8 19. Qe6+.
17. Qxb7 Na6 18. Qxa6 Rae8 19. Qxc6 Re7 20. Qg2 White is up two pieces and goes on to win.
Second place in the tournament was shared by
Air Force Captain Gordon Randall and Air Force Retired Master Sergeant Leroy Hill, who was a protégé of Emory Tate (see sidebar). Randall took second on tiebreaks. He drew Larkins and Hill, while Hill drew Larkins and Navy retired Captain Tom Belke. Immediately following the tournament Gordon departed the U.S. for a tour of duty in Germany, and prior to that he had deployed to Afghanistan as a finance officer in the Air Force. He noted the significance of chess in a deployed environment. Gordon stated, “In Afghanistan, I played chess regularly in my downtime as a way to relax. There are always application of the ideologies of chess to nearly any activity. The main principles that I always try to use are thinking ahead, attention to detail, and second- and third- order effects and these certainly were applicable as a finance officer downrange. Another interest - ing take on it is the ability to take many different routes to reach the same end goal.” There were several other notable players in
the tournament this year. Navy retired Captain Tom Belke is the current chair of the US Chess military chess committee. He relayed to me the story of the Taliban’s animosity toward chess. The Taliban considered chess as a form of gambling and Afghanistan was the only country in the world where chess was illegal from 1994 to 2002. In one publicized account, Taliban police found a shopkeeper playing chess. The Taliban jailed the players and burned the board and pieces. After the U.S. drove the Taliban from power, the first tournament in Kabul drew 138 players. There were so many more players than expected that there were not enough tables and chairs and many
40 January 2016 | Chess Life
Army National Guard Lieutenant Colonel Jon Middaugh served in Afghanistan in 2011. Middaugh is now a Ph.D. working as a historian at the United States Army Center of Military History at Fort McNair. In 2011, he was a major serving as the executive officer of an engineer battalion building roads in eastern Afghanistan. Middaugh recalls how chess built bridges between allies, “I asked the Czech soldiers if any of them played chess. They directed me to their command - er, a Czech Colonel who was a strong player (probably 2100 FIDE) and who headed the rotary airlift unit called ‘TF Hippo.’ He and I would often play on Sunday nights and it was always a nice respite to have the chess camaraderie in a war zone. The meetings brought home the interna- tional aspect of the game, and they seemed to reinforce the bond with a fellow NATO member.” Middaugh still keeps in touch with now retired Czech Colonel Vaclav Vales. Colonel Vales is currently 2179 FIDE and Middaugh estimates he scored maybe 40 percent in their weekly games. I was unable to attend the Armed Forces Open
this year due to other commitments, but I would also like to share my memories of chess in a war zone. I deployed to Iraq several times. My second deployment was in 2005. By that time, the United States military had been there a little while (over a year) and were now focused on providing the deployed service members some opportunities for recrea tion. As the 3rd Infantry Division’s Deputy Personnel officer, one of my responsi- bilities was MWR—Morale Welfare and Recrea - tion. Of course I was responsible for all recreation. I won’t say chess was more important than other recrea tion … On second thought I will say chess was more important! We had makeshift recreation centers at every base. Virtually all donations came through my office and I and my staff were responsible for distributing them. We would hold weekly tournaments of all types—chess, poker, ping pong, spades, etc. I used donated items such as DVDs, CDs and books as prizes for the tournaments. We also got donated chess sets and clocks. Some of these came from people who knew me, but, some just showed up in the mail. I did a promotion where I would give a clock and set to anybody who would join US Chess. I was able to sign up a dozen or so new members and held two rated events in Baghdad (on the base). As far as I know these are the only two US Chess events to be held in Iraq. Another retired participant in the Armed Forces
Open is long time player retired Air Force Major Zachary Kinney. Kinney not only sees a direct relationship between chess and his job, he is writing a book about it. Kinney served as an Air Force Attorney Judge Advocate General (JAG). Kinney relayed to me, “I integrated the themes of timing and tempo as well as maneuvering against weaknesses, two time tested chess principles, to put on my court-martials when I was prosecuting and defending in the U.S. Air Force. I found my chess experience to be most helpful to me in the court room. I could predict my opponent’s moves in the court room just like
I was able to do so on the chess board.” He is going to share his experi ences in the forthcoming book: War in the Court Room which he hopes to publish in 2016. The Armed Forces Open is also a team tourna -
ment. The top players determine the team cham- pion. When DoD funded the tournament, each service only brought six players. In the open format, it is not a level playing field. Services that bring more players (or stronger players) have an advantage. As an example, this year the Navy and the Marines had less than the six players needed for a full team. Because the Marines only had three players, they were essentially eliminated from the competition before it even started. The Army had the most players with nine, but it was the Air Force that was the clear pre-tournament favorite. Even though Air Force only had seven players, they had four of the top 10 players by rating, while each other service had two in the top 10. True to form, the Air Force won the tournament. Their top six players scored 19½ points. Navy had 17 points, Army had 13 points, and the three Marines with no supporting cast scored eight points. The tournament actually uses the Rollins system which results in different numbers for the teams, but has no impact on the order of the final standings. The 2015 Armed Forces Championship were
ably directed by National Tournament Director and FIDE Arbiter Mike Hoffpauir, himself a 27- year veteran of the U.S. Army. Mike retired from active duty as a colonel at the end of 2005 and continues supporting the Army as a defense contractor. This was his fifth time directing the event. This year the tournament was FIDE-rated. This new initiative will help U.S. military players get FIDE ratings, and may help us in future NATO Championships! I would be remiss if I did not mention the
sponsorship of Booz-Allen. The Armed Forces Open has no entry fee for any of the players, although as Tom Belke likes to joke officers pay double the free entry fee! None of this would be possible without sponsorship and Booz-Allen has been generously supporting this tournament since 2002. Mike Hoffpauir, a current Booz-Allen employee (and former US Chess military chess committee chair), and Tom Belke, a former Booz- Allen employee (and current US Chess military chess committee chair), have done yeoman’s work in obtaining this sponsorship. Many of us know how difficult it is to obtain and retain sponsorship and these two individuals are to be highly com - mended for their efforts. In 2016 the U.S. Navy will be the hosting
military service. Captain (retired) Tom Belke is planning for the event to be held at the U.S. Naval Academy (his Plan A), in Norfolk either aboard a ship (Plan B), or in another Norfolk Navy facility (Plan C). As you can see, even in planning for the tournament we have “variations” … after all, this is war on 64 squares!
See more about this event on US Chess News at
www.uschess.org/content/view/13227/141/ and the full crosstable at
www.uschess.org/assets/ msa_joomla/
XtblMain.php?201510125302.
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