Chess is more than a game
By Maj. Christopher E. West, 316th Expeditionary Sustainment Command Public Affairs Officer
Dec 24, 2007 – 8:03:51 PM
Blackanthem Military News
LOGISTICS SUPPORT AREA ANACONDA, Iraq – For Salisbury, Md. resident, Clinton E. Young, the game of chess is more than a recreational activity. It is a competitive way to continually sharpen his concentration, memory, problem solving, critical thinking and decision-making skills. Young, a mobilized Army Reserve major, who serves as the medical logistics officer for the 316th Expeditionary Sustainment Command here, has been playing chess for more than 40 years.
“I first started playing when I was about four years old,” said Young. “My nanny, Jenon, taught me how to play when my father was stationed in Taipei, Taiwan.”
Throughout his life, Young’s mastery of chess has enabled him to win numerous state, national and international tournaments. He placed second in the 1998 U.S. Army chess championship and recently won the 2007 chess playoffs here and at Camp Buerhing, Kuwait.
Located near Balad, Iraq in the Sunni Triangle, about 68 miles north of Baghdad, servicemembers from as far as Germany, Kuwait, Afghanistan and other destinations journey here every Friday night to play at the base recreational facility in an attempt to end Young’s championship reign.
Like a battle hardened combatant, he engages each challenger with vim, precision, and skill-often making quick work of their feeble effort to take his title.
“To me chess is the gymnasium of the mind. It is a mental work-out that requires constant alertness, incessant intuition and critical reasoning to be successful at it,” said Young. I thank God for giving me the ability to play chess and for giving me the desire to show others how playing chess can help make them become a better, well-rounded person. I even try to show young children that I counsel at the Maple Shade Youth Center in Mardela Springs how chess can be of benefit to them, he added.”
Maj. Young is an awesome chess player,” said Gregory Thomas, a defense contract logistics technician and Young’s protégé. “Clinton is always 20 moves ahead of any opponent he faces. His coaching me on the art and science of chess has helped me to be more patient and think more analytically and to not just view things as they appear,” he further remarked.
Young is a nationally ranked life member of the U.S. Chess Federation. His ultimate goal is to become a grand master and world champion chess player. As evident by his recent wins, he is well on his way to making his dream a reality.
Here is the full story.
The USCF should do more to support military chess.
I do not remember a Clinton Young ever winning the US Army Chess Championship. I do not even remember a player of the same name ever playing in any of the championship during my 20 years in the Army. I know because I played in said championship countless times and making the All-Army Chess Team at least ten times. It just bothers me that writers usually are not keen about facts.
Taking nothing away from Major Young’s exemplary service to this country, this writer definitely does not know what he is talking about! I am sure that when Major Young read the article he must have been somewhat embarrassed about the inaccuracies.
To begin with, he did not play in the 1998 US Army Chess Championships. According to USCF records (MSA), Expert Joseph Kruml won the event. In second place was SSG Rudy Tia. Major Young, however, did participate in the 1998 Armed Forces Championships, finishing in a tie for 7th – 11th places with 3/5. A good friend of mine, chess Expert LTC David Hater did participate in both events.
Major Young has been a Class A player for over 14 years now and his current rating is 1849. While it is great to have goals, he will be extremely lucky to even make it to the expert level, let alone master. And anyone who knows anything about chess knows that he will never make Grandmaster. World Champion??? Please!!! Of course, any experienced chess player knows that no player, not even the World Champion, is 20 moves ahead of his opponent or, for that matter, thinks 20 moves ahead.
I spent over 23 years in the active Army. One of my sons is an Army Combat Medic and my wife served over 12 years in the active Army as well. I also have a teenage son who is a chess master (he will never make GM, although he is much, much higher rated than Major Young and, of course, much younger!). Needless to say, I support both the military and the chess community. These inaccuracies may not be the fault of Major Young but, as it often occurs, they may be due to many writers not having a clue about the game of chess or how difficult it is to attain the titles of master or Grandmaster. When it comes to the game we love, non-players still have, as my kids would say, no clue!
Yes, I agree, we need to do more to support chess in the military…
And Major Young, thank you for your service to this great Country of ours!
Franc Guadalupe
USCF National Tournament Director
CW4 (US Army, Retired)
An 8-year old rated 1849 can talk about becoming a grandmaster. From a 44 year old it sounds silly.
This is not the first time factual inaccuracies are published in this blog and Chess Life. The story about MAJ Young is reprinted in the January edition of Chess Life. A similar article about military chess was published by this blog before and by Chess Life as well. In that article, the composition of the All-Army Chess TEam, top six players, were misordered and further claimed that the real 6th placer was mentioned as the lucky alternate because the 8th placer who supposedly finished 6th could not represent the Army against the other services. I mean, how could a journalist screw up the facts that bad when all one had to do was check the USCF posting of results for results? I am sure MAJ Young will be embarassed to read either his own exaggerations or misrepresentations by the writer. But it will not be the first to hear a soldier bragging about his chess exploits. People exaggerate their ratings and achievements not knowing that USCF now has posted online tournament results as far back as 1992 or earlier. A soldier once told me he has played in the annual All-Army Chess Championship numerous times not knowing he was speaking to one who actually held the record of making the All-Army Chess Team for the most consecutive times since its inception. I believe that record has since been broken. LTC David Hater has been a teammate of mine not for the Inter-Service but in at least 5 NATO tournaments representing the US Armed Forces and he is one who now holds the record of making the team the most times. He also finished in second place the most times. Rudy Tia has won it the most times.
Andres Hortillosa
MAJ Young is a personal friend of mine and would never claim that he was a champion.. I believe that his playing strength would compete favorably with the latest active Army Chess legends such as Tia, Hater, and Macsapac in my opinion. I have seen him play against Jan Elhvest losing a tight one in the endgame and draw another rated over 2200. (Please see:
http://main.uschess.org/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,181/
). Event COCKEYSVILLE OPEN (200602185321)
Location TOWSON, MD 21204 USA
Event Date(s) 2006-02-18
I suspect that the writer misquoted the facts because he felt that without significant accomplishments “his” article would not be published. The journalist who wrote this I am sure is the blame for misquoting the facts. The article was written from an amatuer’s perspective.
In my opinion MAJ Clinton Young would not overstated any of his chess accomplishments because I know him as an honest man.