The Illinois Chess Vets (ICV), ICA’s Veterans committee operational organization, held its Christmas & awards dinner on Saturday, December 15 at Mabenka restaurant at S Cicero Ave in Burbank. 33 people were in attendance. Award recipients were:

• ICV 2018 Volunteer of the Year - Robert Stoltz of Forest Park
• ICV 2018 Player of the Year - Dr. Orlan Smith of Glenwood

Illinois Chess  (ICV) Board Members in attendance were: Michael Lenox- President, Robert Stoltz-Vice President; Lia Lenox - Secretary; Martha Ortega - Treasurer, HR Ready Inc – Owner and Sam Henderson - Board Member, Silver+ Chess Club President.

Illinois Chess Association Board Members in attendance were: Stephen Plotnick- Upstate Vice President, ICA Youth Committee Chair; Eva Harrison - ICA Membership Committee Chair and Michael Lenox - ICA Veteran Committee Chair.

Other notable persons in attendance were: National Master Len Weber, Terry Lemke - USO Midway Supervisor and Bob Gusher - Worth Township.

Chess sets were provided. Eva Harrison, the ICA Membership Committee Chair, won the "Queen of the Hill" title at the party and a chess clock with her 5.5 - 0.0 Perfect score for this free G/5 d3 challenge.

Some of the highlighted ICA’s veterans committee accomplishments for 2018 included: USCF Rated Tournaments - 44 with 464 players, Community Chess Workshop - 1, Expos and Conventions booths manned – 5 and Donated Chess supplies to numerous veteran organizations.

To view pictures of the event please visit www.facebook.com/ilchessvets.org.

To volunteer for the ICA veteran committee in any capacity, please contact Michael Lenox at mdlenox @ comcast.net