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Hamilton McMillan

Number of games in database: 8
Years covered: 2006 to 2009
Last FIDE rating: 1902
Highest rating achieved in database: 1943
Overall record: +1 -2 =5 (43.8%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games.

Most played openings
A20 English (3 games)


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HAMILTON MCMILLAN
(born Oct-28-1946, died Apr-20-2021, 74 years old) United Kingdom

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Norman Hamilton McMillan

Last updated: 2021-06-11 14:35:29

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 page 1 of 1; 8 games  PGN Download 
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. H McMillan vs G Chandler 0-1442006Edinburgh PremierB08 Pirc, Classical
2. A M Brown vs H McMillan  ½-½332009Paignton PremierA39 English, Symmetrical, Main line with d4
3. H McMillan vs A French  ½-½182009Paignton PremierA11 English, Caro-Kann Defensive System
4. C Costello vs H McMillan  ½-½242009Paignton PremierA20 English
5. H McMillan vs E Hurwitz  ½-½192009Paignton PremierA20 English
6. J D Blore vs H McMillan  ½-½392009Paignton PremierC47 Four Knights
7. H McMillan vs A Milnes  0-1322009Paignton PremierA13 English
8. H McMillan vs A F Footner  1-0272009Paignton PremierA20 English
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | McMillan wins | McMillan loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
Jun-11-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  Sally Simpson: Part of the Times Obituary Wednesday 9th June.

---

Hamilton McMillan OBE, CMG, intelligence officer, was born October 28, 1946. He died of heart disease on April 20, 2021, aged 74"

MI6 officer who was based in Vienna during the Cold War and later ‘outed’ in Rome by Howard Marks, aka Mr Nice

Hamilton McMillan, admired by many of his colleagues as one of the most innovative and effective British intelligence officers of his generation, was particularly at home during his two postings to Vienna.

It helped that he was bilingual in German, having spent much of his childhood in Hamburg, where his father had been posted as a banker. He also, with his passion for wearing hats, rather looked the part.

Some thought he resembled Orson Welles, the trilby-wearing star of the 1949 film The Third Man, which created a powerful image of post war Vienna as a place of great international intrigue.

Chess, played by correspondence from whichever part of the world he found himself in, was a lifelong hobby that he pursued at a high level. The habits of mind developed in this field, along with his study of chemistry at university, informed his approach to the procuring of intelligence.

Thinking outside the box hardly described McMillan’s style as he would not even have recognised the existence of a box when presented with a new problem.

His approach to his work went well beyond pure analytics or what he criticised as mere “spying by numbers”. He was always mindful of the need to stand outside the game to understand individuals, “getting into the fabric” of a country or culture and its players.

His powerful intellect might have led to a scientific research career but he became frustrated with the limitations of the particular line he was studying. Instead he responded to the traditional tap on the shoulder by Balliol’s resident talent-spotter for MI6.

While at Oxford he met his future wife, who survives him along with their two children. Their names have not been included here for security reasons.

Balliol had given McMillan the opportunity to meet and observe a wide range of colourful characters. The college had at that time a reputation as a hotbed of left-wing politics amid the ferment of 1960s student and social radicalism.

Among his college friends was Howard Marks, later a notorious drug smuggler and subject of the film Mr. Nice.

His most influential appointment was as head of MI6’s newly established counterterrorism section, where he formed a close bond with Duane Clarridge, the flamboyant head of the CIA’s counterterrorism centre. McMillan’s imaginative strategy, supported by the CIA’s resources, led to the neutralisation of the main international terrorist threat of the day, just as that threat was becoming focused on Britain.

He built on that success by adapting techniques invented for counterterrorism to tackle weapons of mass destruction proliferation and organised crime. McMillan’s last appointment before his retirement in 1997 put him in charge of European operations.

During that time he advanced MI6’s integration in the Whitehall community by instituting a lunch club of under-secretaries from the main civil service departments. In the last phase of his career his robust style of management attracted criticism.

Some referred to him as a “Marmite” figure, but even those who did not like his management style still called him “Mac”, with some affection.

Jun-11-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  Dionysius1: Brilliant spot! Good to see the possible tension between old and new guards in the Whitehall community was still around when he retired. Although that might be a simplification on my part.

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