First black grandmaster Maurice Ashley hopes to see more follow in his footsteps
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Maurice Ashley became the first black grandmaster in 1999 and had hoped that many would follow in his footsteps.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF ENG CHIN AN
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SINGAPORE – When Maurice Ashley finally became a grandmaster in 1999, he was the first black person to attain the highest honour in chess.
In the years that followed, Ashley thought his achievement would open doors for many more like him.
But few have followed in his footsteps. Sweden’s Pontus Carlsson in 2007 and Zambia’s Amon Simutowe in 2009 are among the handful who have achieved the same status.
American prodigy, 15-year-old Brewington Hardaway looks set to join that elite club, having earned his third grandmaster norm at the Sants Open in August.
To become a grandmaster, one must earn three grandmaster norms and achieve a 2,500 Elo rating via the International Chess Federation (Fide).
The 58-year-old Ashley said: “The important thing for me is not being the first one (but) to be the first of many. And I thought that it would happen pretty easily after that. Turns out it didn’t, and that has been a source of discontent for me.”
“When it happened, black chess players would say: ‘You’ve got to do this for us’. And I’m just trying to do it for myself, so race didn’t matter to me. I just wanted to become a grandmaster,” added the Jamaican-American, who is in town for the Fide world championship at Resorts World Sentosa, where he is a commentator and moderator.
Considering the large population of black players, including hustlers who played for small sums of money in parks in New York where Ashley lived, the dearth of top black players globally came as a surprise.
Said Ashley: “There were people playing in the parks, and most of them were black players, and so I was surrounded by black players. It was only when we went to the chess clubs, the fancy clubs in Manhattan, in particular, that we saw a different demographic.”
He believes the reason chess has not caught on among black people as a career choice is more cultural than to do with ability.
“I think chess has really not been nurtured in the black community,” Ashley said. “If you’re a black kid, you might wonder if it’s for you. Because it doesn’t seem like it’s a welcoming space for black players, not that anybody is actually deterring you, but people tend to go where they feel comfortable.”
His own journey was not without its challenges.
Ashley was a late starter, a friend introduced him to the game at the age of 14 in 1980 and he fell in love with it.
By 1987, he had reached an Elo rating of 2,400, which is close to the grandmaster requirement of 2,500, without the help of a coach.
But his dream of becoming a grandmaster stalled when he needed to prioritise making a living over chess over the next 10 years, during which he managed to get his first grandmaster norm only in 1993.
He said: “I started coaching, and coaching is almost a kiss of death for a player, because it takes you away from playing and the kind of work you need to put in intensely to compete at a top level.”
Maurice Ashley believes that more can be done for black players to become grandmasters.
PHOTO: ENG CHIN AN
It was only in 1997 when a sponsor came forward that he was able to concentrate on the game, before going on to earn his grandmaster title two years later.
Nowadays, Ashley spends his time giving back to the community, providing coaching and helping to set up a chess fellowship where he put in US$20,000 (S$26,900) to create more black grandmasters in the United States.
He is also working with the government in Jamaica, where he grew up, to foster more players to reach the elite levels.
He said: “I feel like it’s my responsibility, before I thought it would just happen, but things don’t just happen. There has to be a real concerted effort.
“And for me, being in a unique position that I’m in, I’m the guy who can make this happen.”
Meanwhile, at the world championship, holder Ding Liren rebounded from a poor start to force a draw with Gukesh Dommaraju after 72 moves in Game 7 on Dec 3.
Opening with a Neo-Grunfeld defence, the 18-year-old Indian challenger held a strong lead but Chinese grandmaster Ding recovered to record a draw, with the overall score tied at 3.5-3.5. Game 8 of the best-of-14 match will be on Dec 4.
