Mychal Denzel Smith
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mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
Mychal Denzel Smith
@mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
790 followers 360 following 180 posts
Books: Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching/Stakes is High/one in progress about Virginia. Smoking cigars, drinking coffee, playing chess. I dunno man, what even matters now?
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mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
A few weeks ago, I had the most beautiful checkmate I’ve ever had, seen here where my opponent made the mistake of thinking their discovered check was ore powerful than it was, and oops, my queen takes that rook and added bonus gets out of the check with my own checkmate.
April 23, 2025 at 3:06 AM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
Simultaneously flattering and annoying to be accused of cheating, but like… c’mon man, you blundered a rook this badly and you think I was cheating to win this? I barely know what I’m doing, but I know you can’t play *this* badly and expect you’re going to win
On the chess board: black’s king is on the eighth rank, with pawns on a7, b6, g7, and h7. White’s king is on h2, with pawns on g2, h3, and d6. Black has just moved their rook to take a white pawn on c3, only white has a rook on c7. Black has blundered the rook, leading to a winning endgame for white. And somehow, the player that has black pieces has accused the other, me, of cheating
February 27, 2025 at 3:35 AM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
Murderer’s Row
On the chess board, black has been checkmated on g8 by the white queen on g7, with one white rook on h7, another on b7. Black’s two rooks and queen are stuck on the back row, unable to help.
February 13, 2025 at 3:01 PM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
I needed a win, because ya boy has been on a hellafied losing streak. Then I blundered here. Badly. Thought I had a clever pin on the knight, did not notice that bishop. BUT—neither did my opponent, who let it sit for another six moves, and allowed me to get a winning position
On the chess board, white has moved a room up from a1 to a6, creating a pin on black’s knight on c6, since the black queen is on d6. Only, white hasn’t noticed that black’s bishop on c4 can simply take the rook on c6. Black didn’t notice it either, several moves went by and black didn’t capture the free rook
February 8, 2025 at 2:08 PM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
World on fire, but my child turned two, so broke out the stuff I paid way too much money for
On a black patio table, there’s a rocks glass, with just a finger of bourbon in it (Booker’s 30th anniversary, if you’re curious), with a cigar sitting atop of it—cigar as has a white Davidoff band and a secondary red and gold band, marking their series for the Lunar New Year, with this particular one being a 2016 Year of the Monkey. In the background, a photo book called “Chess Players” that features Steve McQueen (white American actor, not black British director) moving chess pieces
February 5, 2025 at 3:40 AM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
Guatemalan beans
The faint early sunlight is hitting a white mug of coffee, which sits atop a black outdoor table. On top of the coffee mug is a cigar, with a brown band that says “Pan Caliente.” A bit of MacBook is visible in the bottom right corner
January 27, 2025 at 1:25 PM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
Been a while since someone rage quit on me, but in their defense they played really, really badly, all hope was truly lost
On the chess board, white has a major advantage—a series of mistakes by black means they are down a knight and bishop, even as they’ve captured one more pawn than white has. Black has not castled, as white has; black has two rooks and pawns on every file except the c file, while white has two rooks (on a1 and e4, which just captured a pawn), as well as a bishop on c1 and knight on f3, with six pawns (the two center pawns are gone). White would really have to fuck this up to lose this game
January 27, 2025 at 3:36 AM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
The Ponziani was turning on me, started the year off getting beaten badly, so decided I should learn a new opening. This is first decent win playing the Colle system, but all this positional play still baffles me
On the chess board, white has just checkmated the black king, which has been pushed all the way up to e3. The white rook on d1 cuts off one side, while the pawns g2 and f3, along with white king in g3, leave no spaces on the other side. Black has made a mistake by trying to attack the white rook by moving their queen to e2, but this eliminates the only square the king could move to. The white queen moves from g6, takes the black pawn on e6, and delivers the checkmate
January 19, 2025 at 4:43 PM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
Testing the limits of my empathy with this one
It’s Mel Gibson, looking god awful, above a headline saying he lost his home in the wildfires. But again, it’s Mel Gibson
January 12, 2025 at 5:36 AM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
Today marks one year into my chess life, and I celebrated by… playing one of the worst games I ever have, good gracious this is awful
December 26, 2024 at 4:19 PM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
I was winning. I have a winning position. I made some mistakes, opponent made more, I got into a winning position. Only I could not for the life of me figure out the move here to stop the incoming check with queen/rook, and did not pay attention to how much time I had left. Lost on time.
On the chess board, black’s king has a strong position: the white king is on e1, with rooks on f1 and d2, while the white queen is on d7. The black queen delivered a check on c3, which the white rook blocked, but with a knight on e2 and rook on g3, black has an overwhelming attack on white. White is threatening a check, with the black king on g8, but black can block that with a move of the knight to f4. Only I (playing as black) did not see that, and lost the game on time.
December 19, 2024 at 2:33 PM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
Perhaps no more satisfying checkmate than the one delivered with a pawn, especially when you didn’t realize you were playing checkmate, then it’s like finding twenty dollars in your coat pocket after not wearing it for a year
On the chess board, black’s king has migrated to the side on h5, with a black pawns on g6 and h6. The black pawn on f5 is pinned by the white rook on e5. The white bishop is cutting off the dark squares, positioned on e7. Black’s rook is no help on g8. The white pawn moves to g4, and since it’s defended by another pawn on h3, this is checkmate
December 19, 2024 at 3:07 AM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
Never play “hope chess”—where you play something hoping that your opponent plays a move in your favor. Play the very best move you can find and anticipate them doing the same.

Because eventually one of you are gonna screw up anyway. Glad it wasn’t me this time.
On the chess board, white has just captured a pawn, but opened up a tactic where black can take the knight on f3, delivering a check. Black’s rook on e7 is lined up on the white queen, meaning white will want to take the knight back with the queen currently on e2. Only after that move, the white rook on e1 is left undefended, allowing black to capture with the rook and deliver another check. White is down a rook going forward.
December 17, 2024 at 2:05 AM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
Spent the weekend with family, two nights in a house with two toddlers, now back home
A still from the film “Phantom Thread” where Daniel Day-Lewis is lying on a pillow, under a blanket, holding the hand of the woman who has poisoned him. The text, dialogue from the scene, reads: “Just give me silence”
December 16, 2024 at 3:03 AM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
What’s the secret to breaking a ten game losing streak in a game where you blunder twice? Well, I’ll tell ya: play someone significantly worse than you
On the chess board, black has checkmated white, with the rook moving from c5 to c1, opening a double check on the white king sitting on g1, as the black bishop is on b6. The king needs to move, since there’s no way to block the double check, but there are no squares available to the white king. Checkmate
December 9, 2024 at 2:36 PM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
Me and Jimmy smoking this morning and not thinking about the L I took in my morning chess game, on a five game losing streak, not thinking about that, just me and Jimmy having some caffeine and nicotine
A copy of “If Beale Street Could Talk” by James Baldwin, sporting a new cover that features an illustration of Baldwin, sitting on a table outside, with a small cigar on top of it, and a partial view of a laptop to the right
December 6, 2024 at 2:40 PM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
Played this gem this morning, effectively losing the game on move 4. *Normally* a knight in the center supported by a pawn very powerful, only I neglected to note that they still have pawns that can attack it, and there’s nowhere safe for my knight to run.
On the chess board, it’s move four and black has just blundered a knight. White has pawns on e4 and d5, as well as a bishop on c4. Black has a pawn on e5, knight on f6, and just moved the other knight to d4, after being attacked by white’s pawn. This will lose the knight, since white can attack the knight with move c3, and the knight has nowhere to run to
December 5, 2024 at 2:25 PM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
Win streak ended with a tough loss, no way to stop that pawn from queening. Wasn’t the worst game I’ve played, but had some positions where the best or even good moves eluded me. Sums up my life, really
On the chess board, the black pawn on b3 is two moves away from promotion, and none of white’s pieces are able to stop it, as the only attacking piece on the board for white is a knight on f7 that can’t get there in time, and the white king is stuck on h2. It’s over for white, the game is lost, look away, it’s a slaughter
December 2, 2024 at 5:17 PM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
Under no influence of mine, these were the three records my not-quite-two-year-old instructed me to play, so I’m looking forward to when she’s three and telling me hip-hop ain’t what it used to be
Album cover for “Criminal Minded” by Boogie Down Prodcutions Album cover for “It’s a Big Daddy Thing” by Big Daddy Kane Album cover for “Road to the Riches” by Kool G Rap & DJ Polo
December 1, 2024 at 8:34 PM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
“We do this in broad daylight… that’s a whole different degree of homicide”
On the chess board, the black knight has just taken a white rook on d4, after having put the white king in check with a fork. The black rook is on e8, a black bishop on f5, while white only has a bishop on c7, five remaining pawns, and an exposed king on d2. The game is all but over, and white resigns this position
December 1, 2024 at 6:58 PM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
Got an 8 move checkmate because opponent got scared of losing their rook, neither of us seeing they had a pretty powerful follow-up if they took my bishop… sucks to be them, I got the win
On the chessboard, the black queen delivers checkmate on the eighth move of the game, moving to f1 with support from the bishop on h3
November 30, 2024 at 3:40 AM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
Oh you thought moving the king out of the pin would save you, ha? How ‘bout that knight sacrifice, ha? On my way to winning a rook, ha? Oh you resigned the game, ha?
On the chess board, the white queen on g3 was pinning the black pawn on g6, allowing the white bishop on h5 to be in attack that included the white knight on f5. The black king sidestepped the pin, moving to h7, however the white knight moved to f7 to attack the black queen on d8. This forces black to capture with the rook on f8, however, once they do so, the white queen will take the pawn on g6, and with the protection of the bishop on h5, check the black king, forcing it to move, and allowing white to capture the black rook on f7
November 27, 2024 at 3:26 PM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
Took two Ls today, so naturally my next move is to sue @chess.com, the spirit of Bobby Fischer, and the creators of the internet for inflating the numbers in a deliberate attempt to destroy my character
November 26, 2024 at 2:53 AM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
COVID+Flu shots had me down bad earlier, so didn’t play, but now that I’ve recovered… this is the good stuff
On the chess board, two black queens on the first row deliver checkmate to the white king on the sixth row
November 24, 2024 at 2:38 AM
mychaldenzelsmith.bsky.social
TIL the planned first screening of “Dr. Strangelove” was postponed because it was scheduled for the same day JFK got shot
November 22, 2024 at 10:31 PM