Andrews' Airman is best at chess, leads AF team to victory
A Joint Base Andrews Airman has proven himself as the best chess player in the Air Force and led the Air Force team to victory over their sister services.
Senior Airman Kiel Russell, 89th Communications Squadron technician, won the title of top active-duty player in the Air Force at the U.S. Armed Forces Open Chess Tournament Oct. 9-11. Additionally, Russell won the deciding match of the tournament, securing first place for the Air Force chess team.
“It was very stressful. It got to a point where I couldn’t make any mistakes,” said Russell. “You could hear a pin drop in there. There was complete silence.”
The stress isn’t new to this Airman; he began playing chess in 2004 as a freshman at Oregon State University.
“I just saw some people playing and they let me sit down and play,” he said. “At first I got beat a lot, but after that I started to study and develop as a player and I started winning more and more. Once you get started you can’t stop.”
Combining his love of chess and the Air Force came after mentorship from a retired senior NCO Chief Master Sgt. Neil McGillicuddy.
“He really pushed me,” said Russell. “I mentioned I was pretty good at chess and he told me about the chess team and how it was an opportunity to represent the Air Force and compete.”
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