United States Armed Forces Chess Championship


The United States Armed Forces Chess Championship is a chess tournament held annually since 1960.

U.S. Armed Forces Chess Championship

The first U.S. Armed Forces Chess Championship was held in 1960, and continued uninterrupted through 1993. After 1993, the support of the U.S. Department of Defense was withdrawn. From 1994 through 2001, the American Chess Foundation and the U.S. Chess Center collaborated to host an open Swiss replacement event, the U.S. Armed Forces Open Chess Championship.
When the Department of Defense resumed support of chess in 2001 with the [|Inter-Service Chess Championship], the military committee of US Chess took over the open Swiss which continues to be held each year as the U.S. Armed Forces Chess Championship.

Most frequent champions

IM Emory Tate won the Armed Forces Chess Championship five times in 1983, 1984, and three times in a row in 1987 through 1989. Robert Keough has also won five times in 1999, 2000, 2009; 2008, and 2013.
In 2018, Larry Larkins won his sixth Armed Forces Chess Championship.

Inter-Service Chess Championship

In 2001, the U.S. Department of Defense resumed support of chess in the US military and the US Armed Forces Chess Championship was renamed the U.S. Inter-Service Chess Championship.