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Maurice Ashley: Black Grandmaster No. 1

Published

4 years ago

December 10, 2020

Kiki

Maurice Ashley, pondering a move. Wikipedia photo.

Most people who master the game of chess begin their studies around age 4. Maurice Ashley however, didn’t have that luxury. Born in 1966 in St. Andrew Parish on the island of Jamaica, Ashley grew up dabbling in checkers, card games, and dominoes.

“We didn’t have a lot of technology,” Ashley said during an interview with The Undefeated. “Television came on, but it was like 6 o’clock in the evening when the first show came on, so we learned to play a lot of games. Chess was one of those games … I kind of liked it, but I wasn’t into it because it was just a game like the rest of them.”

By age 12, Ashley relocated to Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood. While in school, he noticed that several boys played chess. Although he’d shown little interest in it earlier, he remembered enough about the rules to engage in a game with a friend. And he lost. This crushed his competitive spirit; he had to win.

Ashley began to read books about the game and practice techniques. “I was reading books about famous players all around the world; I wanted to beat those guys,” he said.

Consumed by the game, he wanted to play all the time. And for that, New York was the place to be. “In the mid-’80s in Brooklyn, in New York, it was crazy,” he said during a filmed interview with Hennessey US. “For me to have chess as an outlet, something that I always wanted to do, something that kept me away from the bullets flying outside … I was always inside studying chess. I just knew this is what I wanted to do all the time.”

During high school, Ashley joined what was called the Black Bear School of Chess, a loosely defined group of Black chess fanatics in Brooklyn, mostly in their late teens and early 20s, who also studied and played for hours at a time or sometimes all weekend. They gathered on Friday nights for chess rumbles.

Ashley soon began to compete in various city parks and in tournaments. The experience, he said, helped him to “mature, think about calculations, analysis and data. Chess is all these different pieces; the possibilities are very complex … That kind of complexity of the game is what keeps us coming back again and again.”

Being active in competitions and clubs opened doors. In 1999, at the age of 33, he became the first Black person to achieve the highest rank in chess: grandmaster.

Ashley’s passion for chess is his life. Today, he teaches and mentors those in underserved communities with an interest in the game. “I didn’t have those kinds of role models when I was growing up, so to be a role model now, to represent a sport and represent my family, that, to me, is absolutely a big responsibility, and I embrace it,” he told The Undefeated.

There are about 1,300 chess grandmasters worldwide. Today, only three are Black. The others are Pontus Carlsson (2005) and Amon Simutowe (2007).

Kiki

Posts by Kiki | Website

Related Topics:Amon Simutowe Black Bear School of Chess chess Grandmaster Maurice Ashley Pontus Carlsson The Undefeated

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Oakland Post: Week of December 25 – 31, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 25 – 31, 2024

Published

12 hours ago

December 26, 2024

Oakland Post

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Bay Area

Glydways Breaking Ground on 14-Acre Demonstration Facility at Hilltop Mall

Glydways has been testing its technology at CCTA’s GoMentum Station in Concord for several years. The company plans to install an ambitious 28-mile Autonomous Transit Network in East Contra Costa County. The new Richmond facility will be strategically positioned near that project, according to Glydways.

Published

3 days ago

December 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Image of planned Richmond facility courtesy of Glydways.

The Richmond Standard

Glydways, developer of microtransit systems using autonomous, small-scale vehicles, is breaking ground on a 14-acre Development and Demonstration Facility at the former Hilltop Mall property in Richmond, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) reported on social media.

Glydways, which released a statement announcing the project Monday, is using the site while the mall property undergoes a larger redevelopment.

“In the interim, Glydways will use a portion of the property to showcase its technology and conduct safety and reliability testing,” the company said.

The new Richmond development hub will include “over a mile of dedicated test track, enabling Glydways to refine its solutions in a controlled environment while simulating real-world conditions,” the company said.

Visitors to the facility will be able to experience on-demand travel, explore the control center and visit a showroom featuring virtual reality demonstrations of Glydways projects worldwide.

The hub will also house a 13,000-square-foot maintenance and storage facility to service the growing fleet of Glydcars.

“With this new facility [at the former Hilltop Mall property], we’re giving the public a glimpse of the future, where people can experience ultra-quiet, on-demand transit—just like hailing a rideshare, but with the reliability and affordability of public transit,” said Tim Haile, executive director of CCTA.

Janet Galvez, vice president and investment officer at Prologis, owner of the Hilltop Mall property, said her company is “thrilled” to provide space for Glydways and is continuing to work with the city on future redevelopment plans for the broader mall property.

Richmond City Manager Shasa Curl added that Glydways’ presence “will not only help test new transit solutions but also activate the former Mall site while preparation and finalization of the Hilltop Horizon Specific Plan is underway.

Oakland Post

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Alameda County

Last City Council Meeting of the Year Ends on Sour Note with Big Budget Cuts

In a five to one vote, with Councilmembers Carroll Fife and Janani Ramachandran excused, the council passed a plan aimed at balancing the $130 million deficit the city is facing. Noel Gallo voted against the plan, previously citing concerns over public safety cuts, while Nikki Fortunato-Bas, Treva Reid, Rebecca Kaplan, Kevin Jenkins, and Dan Kalb voted in agreement with the plan.

Published

3 days ago

December 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Oakland City Council voted on a plan to balance the $130 million deficit at their last regular meeting of 2024. The plan reduces police spending by $25 million, temporarily closes two fire stations, and guts the cultural arts programs. iStock photo.

By Magaly Muñoz

In the last lengthy Tuesday meeting of the Oakland City Council for 2024, residents expressed strong opposition to the much needed budget cuts before a change in leadership was finalized with the certification of election results.

Oakland police and fire departments, the ambassador program, and city arts and culture will all see significant cuts over the course of two phases.

Phase 1 will eliminate two police academies, brown out two fire stations, eliminate the ambassador program, and reduce police overtime by nearly $25 million. These, with several other cuts across departments, aim to save the city $60 million. In addition, the council simultaneously approved to transfer restricted funds into its general purpose fund, amounting to over $40 million.

Phase 2 includes additional fire station brownouts and the elimination of 91 jobs, aiming to recover almost $16 million in order to balance the rest of the budget.

Several organizations and residents spoke out at the meeting in hopes of swaying the council to not make cuts to their programs.

East Oakland Senior Center volunteers and members, and homeless advocates, filled the plaza just outside of City Hall with rallies to show their disapproval of the new budget plan. Senior residents told the council to “remember that you’ll get old too” and that disturbing their resources will only bring problems for an already struggling community.

While city staff announced that there would not be complete cuts to senior center facilities, there would be significant reductions to staff and possibly inter-program services down the line.

Exiting council member and interim mayor Bas told the public that she is still hopeful that the one-time $125 million Coliseum sale deal will proceed in the near future so that the city would not have to continue with drastic cuts. The deal was intended to save the city for fiscal year 2024-25, but a hold up at the county level has paused any progress and therefore millions of dollars in funds Oakland desperately needs.

The Coliseum sale has been a contentious one. Residents and city leaders were originally against using the deal as a way to balance the budget, citing doubts about the sellers, the African American Sports and Entertainment Group’s (AASEG), ability to complete the deal. Council members Reid, Ramachandran, and Gallo have called several emergency meetings to understand where the first installments of the sale are, with little to no answers.

Bas added that as the new Alameda County Supervisor for D5, a position she starts in a few weeks, she will do everything in her power to push the Coliseum sale along.

The city is also considering a sales tax measure to put on the special election ballot on April 15, 2025, which will also serve as an election to fill the now vacant D2 and mayor positions. The tax increase would raise approximately $29 million annually for Oakland, allowing the city to gain much-needed revenue for the next two-year budget.

The council will discuss the possible sales tax measure on January 9.