Blindfold Chess Podcast
Blindfold Chess Podcast
S3 E8 Maurice Ashley v M. Berman (1991)
Nowadays, we may see this gentleman as a commentator on large scale events such as the US Championship and the World Championship, but he has had a groundbreaking career including participating in the US Chess Championship and becoming the first Black chess Grandmaster. We are of course talking about -the Tiger Woods of Chess - Maurice Ashley.
He joined the Black Bear School of Chess - a chess group of African American chess enthusiasts popular in the 1970s and 80s. This group produced some of the strongest Black Masters in history. In that same interview, Ashley said “This group was the most influential on my chess - they taught me how to fight to the bitter end and really study intensely. Not by formal lessons, but by just crushing me mercilessly. Truly the school of hard knocks.”
In 1997, he backed off of coaching and commentating to focus on becoming a Grandmaster. He had an epiphany after seeing Tiger Woods clinch the 1997 Golf Masters and said: “I had been dreaming about being a grandmaster for over a decade, but life had seemed to be constantly pulling me in different directions,” Maurice writes on his website, “It was that Sunday in April watching Tiger realize his dream that convinced me that I needed to change my life and go chase mine.”.
In 2003:
- He and Susan Polgar became US Chess Federation’s Grandmasters of the Year
- He was the commentator on ESPN’s broadcast of Kasparov’s match against X3D Fritz (a match that ended in a 2-2 tie)
- He wrote an essay called - ‘The End of the Draw Offer?’ which raised questions about ways to avoid quick draws in chess tournaments. He argued that quick draws were detrimental to the game for the viewer, sponsorships, and players. He insisted on a 30 (or 40) move rule in tournaments. This essay helped inspire the rule changes at the US Championship and the New York Masters that are present today
- He also played in his first US Championship placing - scoring 39th out of 58. After this tournament, he announced he would be retiring from competitive chess instead pivoting to coaching and commentating
He was the 57th person to be inducted into US Chess Hall of Fame. On his plaque, he is described as: “Not only was he the first African-American player to achieve the title of Grandmaster, but one of the greatest ambassadors and promoters the game has ever known”.
Fast forwarding a little to 2024, Ashley released the book ‘Move by Move Life Lessons On and Off the Chess Board’. He also started the Maurice Ashley Foundation. An organization with the mission to help young people who do not typically have access to resources be able to grow - "Too often, kids with immense potential are overlooked simply because they don’t have access to the right environment or support. This fellowship is about giving those kids a chance to rise, to be seen, and to compete on the world stage."
“When people asked me at the time, ‘How does it feel to become the first?’ I said, ‘You know, it is cool to be the first. But what excites me is that there is going to be a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and a 10th.’ Here we are 25 years later, I’m still the only one [in the US or in Jamaica]. For me, that is a challenge. That’s unacceptable.”
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. c4 c6 5. Nc3 Be6 6. cxd5 Bxd5 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bd3 Nf6 9. O-O O-O 10. Re1 Re8 11. Ne5 Nbd7 12. Nxd5 cxd5 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bh4 Nf8 15. Bb5 N6d7 16. Bg3 a6 17. Ba4 Rc8 18. Qh5 Nxe5 19. Rxe5 b5 20. Bb3 Bf6 21. Rxd5 Qa5 22. Qxf7+ Kh8 23. Re5 1-0
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2387718
