David Hater is a retired Army officer who now devotes his efforts to chess full time. He served in the Ohio National Guard from 1988 to 1990 and then as a personnel officer on active duty from 1990 until he retired in 2015. His last assignment was as the chief personnel officer for U.S. Army Cyber Command. He served numerous overseas and combat tours including multiple deployments. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Air Force War College and his awards and decorations include two Legions of Merit and a Bronze Star among other awards. He presently works full time as a chess professional. He is an employee of Continental Chess Association and does contract work for the Georgia Chess Association, Kasparov Chess Foundation, and Chess Center of New York among others. He is one of the most active tournament directors in the United States and typically directs more than 50 tournaments a year where over 10,000 players play for prize funds totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. He is certified as an International Arbiter by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and a National Tournament Director by the United States Chess Federation. Colonel Hater is very active in chess administration and governance. He presently serves as a Vice President of the Georgia Chess Association and is one of Georgia’s three delegates to US Chess. He is currently a member of the US Chess Ethics, Military Chess, and Rules Committees and served as the chair of the US Chess Ethics Committee from 2017-2018 and has served as chair of the Military Chess Committee numerous times. As a player, Colonel Hater is presently or has been an expert (rated over 2000) by FIDE, US Chess, and Canadian Chess Federation. Though he no longer plays as much as he once did, some of his significant playing accomplishments are winning the Armed Forces Open three times, winner of the Under 2000 section of the National Open, winner of the top player aged 35-39 in the U.S. Under 50 Championship, member of the top military team at the U.S. Amateur Team Championship and was a member of the bronze medal USA NATO Chess Team in 2013.
