Ft. Smith Chess Club

Every Monday night, the Ft. Smith chess club meets at the Sweet Bay Coffee Company for informal chess. A few times a year, they'll play a 5 round swiss tournament with one round a week.

So I'm a noob to the group, I was unaware that most every body shows up 15-30 minutes late for the 7pm informal meetings. However, after about 5 minutes of waiting, I was greeted by the first of the 'regulars,' Blake.

Blake (~1850 USCF) and I played three games, about an hour each. Our first game, I completely misplayed his Alekhine's Defense and crumbled in the middle game. In the second game, I played much stronger, but still ended up losing in a tough pawn endgame. The third game I won a nice tactic in the late middle game and was up a knight for the endgame. However, I declined a trade trying to keep pressure on my kingside attack and ended up causing a draw position.

After looking up some of the club's crosstables, Blake is consistantly their best player. I consider it a great sign that I kept up as well as I did.

Next OTB play will probably be the KY Open in early June.