WATCH | Local blind chess grandmaster to meet with GC Chess Club

U.S. Blind Chess Champion Dennis Cummings says he is excited to start meeting with the Garland County Chess Club regularly. - Photo by Lance Brownfield of The Sentinel-Record.
U.S. Blind Chess Champion Dennis Cummings says he is excited to start meeting with the Garland County Chess Club regularly. - Photo by Lance Brownfield of The Sentinel-Record.

Local blind chess Grandmaster Dennis Cummings plans to make an appearance at today's Garland County Chess Club meeting at the Garland County Library.

Cummings has enjoyed an accomplished chess career, winning the Chicago Open in Class A in 1997, the Arkansas Chess Association Championship in 1996 and 1998, as well as the senior division in 2019 and the U.S. Chess Federation National Blind U.S. Blind Chess Championship in 2009.

Hailing from Pine Bluff, Cummings was raised in a military family and lived in several locations across the country before settling in Hot Springs in 2004.

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As a "life expert," his elo rating (the standard chess ranking system) will never fall below 2,000. He has fluctuated between 2,000 and 2,025 for years.

To prepare for a match, he pulls pieces from his bag and spreads them out on his board, asking if the square on the corner to his right is white or a color. Tony Webb, who began the club, assists him.

Cummings said the meeting is the first time he's attended a local club in years and that he used to go as often as he could when another club met in town.

He looks to connect with the growing group as he looks back on the excitement and challenges that led him here.

"You have to rely so heavily upon your memory," Cummings said. "There's been a lot of time, your brain just gets exhausted. It's very tiring."

At the age of 9, Cummings began to lose his vision, leaving him legally blind. His hearing started to go as well when he was 14. He is deaf, but has cochlear implants allowing him to hear to an extent. His impairments are caused by a genetic disorder known as "Lebers." His loss of vision was due to optic nerve atrophy while his hearing impairment is "sensory-neural," according to doctors.

He said because he can somewhat see the black pieces, but not the white pieces, he feels the pieces of his opponent.

This has led to even more challenges throughout his career, as some contestants complain and challenge his rights. However, the overwhelming majority of players and officials have allowed his playing style as a reasonable accommodation to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"The rules are if you touch a piece, you have to move it," Cummings said. "But it's to find out what they did. They're not going to tell you what they moved."

As he starts a match with Webb, his hands bob back and forth checking the location of each piece before making his decision about his opening. White moves a pawn to e4. Cummings reaches across to assess and follows with a pawn to e5. Webb responds with knight to c3, the Vienna Game.

He ran into problems when players moved pieces very quietly as his time would tick down during his turn without him being aware. The same people who complained about him feeling pieces would sometimes complain about him feeling the clock, as well.

"The problems that this has caused," he said. "I think it's more attitude than anything else. That part has been a setback, but most people are kind and understanding."

He said players with vision also take for granted the fact they can get up and walk around between games to use the bathroom and get a drink of water -- another disadvantage he has overcome.

"I don't even know where the dadgum restroom is," Cummings said. "It can be extremely irritating. Especially when you've got a huge, huge number of people in a ballroom like in the Chicago Open."

Despite all the adversity he has faced over the years, he has held on to his passion for the sport.

"I love the game as a whole," he said. "It challenges my analytic capabilities, and I was an athlete in high school. I love to compete. I love to test my brain against somebody else's. And just the art and science combined in chess are fascinating."

During high school, Cummings ran track and wrestled. His condition was unable to take away his competitive spirit as he pressed on to become a national chess champion years later.

He said he hopes to inspire others to come to the club meetings and learn more about the game. With an energetic look on his face, he sends out a challenge to the city to pick up the game and play him in a match sometime.

"It's anybody, all the time, every time, any time," Cummings said. "I encourage Hot Springs to come on. I challenge you. Anybody."

The Garland County Chess Club meets 2-5 p.m. on Sundays at the Garland County Library, 1427 Malvern Ave.

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