The_Nerd-Man

          Hello! My name is Luke Smitherman. I learned chess when I was just four years old and never really got it out of my system. But it was only a few years ago that I really got back into it. At first I played mainly online, but then I enrolled in several tournaments-the first of which being my State Championship. I got absolutely schooled, ending with a total score of 1.0 and an almost pathetic USCF rating of 390. My solution? (cue the Rocky music!) Train harder. I started spending several hours each night playing on chess.com and doing pattern-recognition puzzles. I went to more tournaments, inching my way up the ladder. My knowledge increased, and so did my rating. When the Pandemic hit, like thousands of others I stopped going to tournaments and began engrossing myself in the intricacies of-you guessed it!-Youtube chess. Someone recommended I watch some online streamers, so I started trying to sort out which ones were for real and which ones were, like, 250 Elo rated teenagers playing out of their parents' basement. I bought Levy Rozman's book, along with some other chess books. The ones I couldn't get I tried to find at local libraries.

          Early into 2022, I hit my peak. I had my own chess.com blog, had begun my own online club, and, finally started my own OTB chess club in my home city, which harvested about fifteen attendees on just my first meeting! I signed up for a subscription to the Chess Life magazine, and after poring over the articles, games and puzzles in it for weeks every issue, eventually hit my online Elo peak of 1,920. I have played more tournaments and currently have a USCF rating of 852, which is still low but steadily increasing. Since then I have changed accounts and slowed down my chess playing, but otherwise I am still excited about everything I've accomplished, hoping I'll accomplish much more, and, most importantly, still trying to bring communities together with this amazing pastime. Here are a few highlights from recent games in my career:

I am inexpressibly grateful to all the support I have received and am receiving-and without all my encouragement from online I am sure I wouldn't have gotten this far in this path of my life. My online followers are, of course, appreciated as well just as much. Feel free to challenge me or chat anytime you want-the best part about chess is meeting new people! Thank you all so much.

         Sincerely, 

                    Luke