Talk:United States Armed Forces Chess Championship

Cleaning up article

I've been working on cleaning things up and adding citations. Some notes, especially about conflicting information, are inline comments in the article itself.

Here are a few sources I haven't needed so far, but included here just in case they are needed:

- https://chessdailynews.com/larry-larkins-wins-afocc/ (2010 mostly)

- http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/kibitzer/2009/05/2009-inter-service-chess-championship.html?showComment=1241645760000 (2009 ISCC)

- http://texasarmedforceschess.com/faq.html (upcoming tournaments)

- https://www.monroi.com/chess-blog/chess-experts/andres-hortillosa/2008-inter-service-chess-championship.html (2008 ISCC early rounds only)

- https://www.pope.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/242108/pope-snco-wins-interservice-chess-tournament/ (2010 ISCC)

- https://chessdailynews.com/air-force-dominates/ (2009 50th)

Information on ISCC events is much harder to find in general. For now, it's just mentioned at the start of the article and there's a comment after the main table for some placeholder entries. I don't think it's worth adding a list of ISCC winners without a more complete list and other information about the event.

Daniel Quinlan (talk) 03:02, 3 November 2022 (UTC)

Removed sections

This section of the article is stub quality level at best. I think there might be a place for a broader article about military use of chess in research and education that's not specific to the United States.

The removed sections that didn't fit into the article are below. -- Daniel Quinlan (talk) 03:39, 6 November 2022 (UTC)

Armed Forces Chess Research

The United States Armed Forces has studied chess in a number of different applications, from the understanding of psychology, game theory, problem solving, tactical decision making, risk taking and leadership, not to mention in computer programs, artificial intelligence and algorithms.

The Defense Technical Information Center lists over 1,500 civilian, contractor and military reports dealing with chess, chess theory and other applications of chess research.

References

Bibliography

• "Check Chess Out." Army Times. October 1990. Volume 51 (9), page 2.
• Accession Number: ADA225613. The Game of Chess. Descriptive Note : Technical rept. Corporate Author : CARNEGIE-MELLON UNIV PITTSBURGH PA ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT. Personal Author(s) : Simon, Herbert A.; Schaeffer, Jonathan. Full Text: http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=ADA225613. Report Date : 17 DEC 1990. Pagination or Media Count: 21. Abstract : We have seen that the theory of games that emerges from this research is quite remote in both its concerns and its findings from the von Neumann Morgenstern theory. To arrive at actual strategies for the play of games as complex as chess, the game must be considered in extensive form, and its characteristic function is of no interest. The task is not to characterize optimality or substantive rationality, but to define strategies for finding good moves—procedural rationality. What is emerging, from research on games like chess, is a computational theory of games: A theory of what it is reasonable to do when it is impossible to determine what is best—a theory of bounded rationality. The lessons taught by this research may be of considerable value for understanding and dealing with situations in real life that are even more complex that the situations we encounter in chess—in dealing, say, with large organizations, with the economy, or with relations among nations. The game of chess has sometimes been referred to as the Drosophila of artificial intelligence and cognitive science research - a standard task that serves as a test bed for ideas about the nature of intelligence.
• Kmoch, Hans. Chess Games of the First Thomas Emery Armed Forces Tournament; An Analysis and Study. New York: American Chess Foundation, 1961. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/7081745.
• Newell, Allen and Herbert A. Simon. 1964. Accession Number: AD0619386. Title: AN EXAMPLE OF HUMAN CHESS PLAY IN THE LIGHT OF CHESS PLAYING PROGRAMS. Corporate Author: CARNEGIE INST OF TECH PITTSBURGH PA. Personal Author(s): Newell, Allen; Simon, Herbert A. Full Text: http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=AD0619386. Report Date: AUG 1964. Pagination or Media Count: 92. Abstract: This paper is concerned with the use of chess programs to study human thinking. The work on chess programs has produced a collection of mechanisms sufficient to play chess of modest caliber. Independently of their detailed characteristics, they help understand what must be done in order to play chess. The approach used was to examine in some detail the behavior of a man deciding what move to make in a specific middle game position. Having available a protocol, a transcript of the verbal behavior of the man while he is analysing the board and making his decision. Previous work with protocols in other tasks (proving theorems, guessing sequences, learning concepts) has aimed at constructing computer programs that match the behavior in detail. In this paper the authors undertake only the first stages of such an analysis, laying bare the reasoning the subject employed, by examining his protocol in detail. The analysis draws upon ones general knowledge about reasoning mechanisms and how to organize information processing.
• United States, and National Audiovisual Center. USAF Sports and Recreation 1964. U.S. Dept. of the Air Force, 1965. Reviews Air Force team and individual 1964 tournament championships, including bowling, volleyball, basketball, bobsledding, curling, chess, judo, track and field, tennis, softball, golf, and model airplane flying. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5597606.
• Wilkins, David Edward. [www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a076872.pdf Using Patterns and Plans to Solve Problems and Control Search.] Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Memo AIM-329. July 1979. Abstract: The type of reasoning done by human chess masters has not been done by computer programs. The purpose of this research is to Investigate the extent to which knowledge can replace and support search In selecting a chess move and to delineate the issues involved. This has been carried out by constructing a program, PARADISE (PAttern Recognition Applied to Directing SEarch), which finds the best move in tactically sharp middle game positions from the games of chess masters.
• Young, Franklin Knowles. Chess Strategetics; Illustrated. Military Art and Science Adapted to the Chessboard. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1900. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/3259721.

Daniel Quinlan (talk) 03:39, 6 November 2022 (UTC)