"Time is Material.."
---- Jamaican National Chess Coach

INTRODUCTION

NM Mark Smith first learned the game while still at Kingston College, in 1991. He then went on to represent his school in the Workers Bank tournament of 1993, which was his first official Chess Tournament. He achieved first place in the Easter Ladder leagues of 2001 and 2002.

PLAYING STYLE

Mark Smith is a Strategic player, who tends to play very quickly and rarely gets into Time Trouble. He is very appropriately and fondly known as "The Clocksmith" in most jamaican chess circles and is noted from using the advantage of the chess clock to compensate and fight back from otherwise inferior positions.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

The Highlight of Smith's Career is no doubt his creditable performance in the 35th Chess Olympiad which enabled him to obtain his National Master Title.

He has also achieved 1st place in the Summer Open of 2002, and performed remarkably well in the recently concluded National Champs of 2002, by placing in the top six and earning a spot on the Jamaica Chess Olympiad Squad. He followed up this remarkable performance by winning the 35th Jamaica Open of 2002, with 4.5 from 5 points.

Some highlights of his career are as follows;

2002 35th Jamaica Open; 1st place
2002 Summer Open; 1st place
2002 Easter Ladder league; 1st place
2001 Easter ladder league; Placed 1st

RECENT TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Mark Smith has declined to participate in the 2003 Masters Ko, but he is no doubt gearing up for the 2003 National Championships.

CONCLUSION

Mark Smith is an extremely talented and enthusiastic young chess player who has paid his dues. He has proven that "Time is Material" and has managed to fight back from many inferior positions by playing faster than his Opponents. He has confounded his critics by becoming the latest National Master of Jamaica.

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