Chess Grand Master Maurice Ashley

In Harlem with Chess Grand Master Maurice Ashley

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[phlorky]

What's this from?

[eternal888B]

America Beyond the Color Line (PBS)

[matisse511]

(Part 2) That myth was only debunked via role models like Jackie Robinson and Jack Johnson. Similarly, role models in science, tennis, politics, etc. will help tear down long established barriers (real and perceived) in other fields. This underlies the importance of highlighting the black guy that's good at chess. Believe it or not, many many more black guys will be good at chess because of it.

[matisse511]

Barflewk, I don't sense that you are racist, so instead of reacting to your comment, I will respond constructively. Dating back to slavery, "black guys" have been induced, through various means (sometimes self-inflicted), into believing that they are racially inferior. Unfortunately, when individuals subscribe to a paradigm, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, even if inherently untrue. At one time, blacks were even considered athletically inferior.  (Part 1) (continued)

[LoFidelityBeatz]

An inspiration. This man is one of my heroes. I, too, was better at chess than many people I grew up with. I'm a Black male from Detroit. I met a cat in high school who was on the chess team, crushed me and gave me a book. I lack the passion to do what Mr. Ashley did, but I love the game. Big up, respect to you, brother. Keep waking up minds

[Dave54600]

Very nice to see this type of deal. I wish I had something like this as a kid, I had to discover Chess by myself at the end of a Kasparov electronic board.

[yenerowna]

first black gm??? whahahahahaa

What about Anand? lmao

[Soundexpert100]

The truth is if every individual was exposed to chess, male and female, the universe would experience a huge paradigm shift of the world's collective mindset. The logical, rational mind would emerge and perhaps, in the greatest sense, people would begin to take more responsibility for the choices they make. Remember logic will free mankind of fear ignorance and prejudice!

[Soundexpert100]

I cannot believe all the jealous racist comments that come out of the woodwork. It is an innate strategic posture that all men have within,no matter what background they have. Just go to New York City for example, all walks of life, all different ethnicities and all ages going at it under the trees in public parks. Anyone is capable of emerging as the champion or the "chess hustler" any given time of day.

[smackthejokers]

I didn't mention #80 South Africa. Its top ten players consist of 5 black south africans and 5 white south africans. The black ones are #1, #2, #4, #8, and #10. The #1 player is IM Watu Kobese "The African Lion" who has wins over super GMs Peter Leko (perennial top ten in the world) and Judit Polgar (once ranked #8 in the world).

[smackthejokers]

Oops, sorry, GM Amon Simutowe of Zambia earned IM at 16, not 17

[smackthejokers]

Some more notable black players that I know of:

IM Emory Tate of U.S. has 80 tournament wins against Gms a very dangerous tactician that shuns opening theory. Many say that he would be GM easy if he would study opening theory.

IM candidate William Morrison peak rating 2535 in 1995

IM candidate Stephen Muhammad of U.S.

NM Kayin Barclay phenom since age 12 is now 19 and is the #27 active player in Illinois and #630 in U.S.

[smackthejokers]

Some other notable black players that I know of:

GM Pontus Carlsson on Sweden (sub-Saharan African descent, adopted as a child) recently has been playing at a 2700+ clip in the European team. Official rating is 2515 but it is expected to go up after these recent performances

GM Amon Simutowe of Zambia 27 years old, earned IM at 17 and then took a break from chess to earn degrees in finance and economics in the U.S. after that he went back to chess and is now GM.

[smackthejokers]

Hmmmcountries that outrank South Korea? Lets see, #122 Haiti (yes, you read that right),

Somalia #120, Botswana #111, Madagascar #109, Trinidad #108, Uganda #105, Mozambique #104, Jamaica #103, Nigeria #102 with 4 IMs (Japan has only 1), Angola #101 with 6 IMs, Zimbabwe #100 with 3 IMs, Dominican Rep #70 better than Japan in baseball AND chess and has 1 GM and 6 IMs.