The Marine and the Master: PRP sergeant faces off against Montenegrin chess champ

  • Published
  • By Marine Lance Cpl. Jad Sleiman
  • MEDCEUR public Affairs
DANILOVGRAD, Montenegro --  Bozidar Ivanovic was named the chess champion of Montenegro 17 times. He placed first in more than 14 international tournaments. In 1977, he earned the title of Chess Grand Master.
Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Chris Mitchell was a member of his high school chess team during his freshman year. He averaged more wins than losses.

On the morning of Sept. 12, aboard the Danilovgrad Training Base in central Montenegro, the two meet at opposing ends of the checkered board.

Mitchell, a personnel retrieval and processing specialist with Detachment PRP Smyrna, Ga., is one of approximately 250 service members from 10 countries participating in Medical Training Exercise in Central and Eastern Europe 2010, or MEDCEUR '10.

It's sports day and the troops are taking a break from mass casualty response training by playing soccer, basketball and, in a country with the most internationally recognized chess players in the world per capita, chess.

Mitchell sits at the far right edge of a U-shaped series of tables seating 14 other players. Some are with the U.S. Air Force and others are from the various nations participating in the exercise.

Ivanovic will play them all at once. He'll make his one move with barely a moment's thought before moving on to the next contender, giving each player the time it takes him to decide 14 moves before he returns to face them again.

"If I can last long enough, if I can keep playing until he says, 'hey, he played good,' that'd be it," said Mitchell.

Bald and bulging out of his green on green physical training shirt and shorts, he's locked in a battle where size doesn't matter.

Usually, he plays chess standing up.

"Sitting down is like this flat view, but when you stand up it's like you have a 50 cal. [caliber rifle] on top of a hill with a better field of view," he explained.

Today, faced with a grand master, he sits.

"I wish you all the best of luck," Ivanovic told his challengers through an interpreter. "I will start from the left and at the end of this I will tell who is the best."
Ivanovic wrote the book on chess, rather, at least one book. He hands each player an autographed copy of "The Peaks of Chess," a 180-page collection of famous chess games and strategies, as he makes his first moves.

Mitchell is the last to face the master during each rotation. He thinks about his next single move as Ivanovich tears his way through the tables, moving pawns and bishops without stopping at any one table long enough to notice the helpless, puzzled looks on his opponents' faces.

Only 20 minutes pass before the first contender hears, through a thick Montenegrin accent and a slight smile: "checkmate."

Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Bodie McCoy pumps and fires an imaginary shotgun into his board.

"I didn't know he had me right until he had me," he said.

McCoy takes Ivanovic's exposed rook, unknowingly falling into a trap and locking his king between a menacing queen and her bishop.

The floodgates open.

Contender after hopeful contender fall with each lap.

An official from the Montenegro Chess Federation unceremoniously folds each loser's board and collects his pieces in tiny canvas bags.

Mitchell, down a bishop, a knight and a handful of pawns, is still in the game and cursing under his breath.

His finger traces out potential attack and defense lines along the board. He gestures with his right hand as his lips mouth silent words as if discussing strategies with an unseen ally.

Mitchell's pile of vanquished white pieces grows right along with Ivanovic's captured brown ones, until only he, an Armenian soldier and the champ remain.
The end, for Mitchell, is as sudden as it is confusing.

Ivanovic pauses over one of his bishops, motioning to Mitchell with his hands, unable to communicate in English. Mitchell, thinking Ivanovic was cutting him a break with some advice, takes the bishop. Both men instantly know the game is over.

Ivanovic, as it turns out, had been telling him to do just the opposite, and leave the bishop alone. A moment later, Ivanovic had Mitchell's king locked in his queen's sights. Checkmate.

"I could've done better, I don't think I could've won, but I could've done better," said Mitchell.

Three men managed to draw with Ivanovic, two from Montenegro and one from Armenia. Mitchell was the last American standing and one of the final players overall.

As the Marine and the Master shook hands for a photo, Ivanovich said two words: "good game."