SINGAPORE: There have been a lot of unique players throughout chess' rich history. Nobody, though, has a legacy quite like Maurice Ashley, who's in the city-state as the MC for the World Championship.
The first (and, so far, only) African-American GM. While he's aware of that legacy, he wants a world 'where we never have to talk about it in a few years.'
It's why he has started a fellowship in the US (Maurice Ashley Chess Fellowship), aimed at giving an under-represented community a chance in the upper echelons of the game. "I think about it a lot," he told The New Indian Express. "I just started a fellowship in the US because I remain the only black chess player (GM) in the US. Things are about to change as a protege of mine (Brewington Hardaway) is about to get the GM title but there should be many more."
"I'm also working with Jamaica (the country of Ashley's birth) and I'm also working with children in Africa. For me, it's a legacy project. It's very important to me to see diversity in chess and I shouldn't be the only black face when people think about black chess players. There should be many more. I would just love for that to happen."
Why is this the case? "Confluence of reasons," Ashley, who came to NY as a kid, said. "Socio-economic, cultural... socio-economic not only in terms of being able to afford but also in terms of reward. Chess hasn't really, until recent times, been that lucrative for a smart black kid to chase down. All of it is a combination and also somebody needs to push it along.
"Part of the reason why there haven't been truly great black chess players is because there haven't been truly great black chess players. Take India, for example. Why weren't there any great Indian players? (Viswanathan) Anand shows up and there still aren't any other great chess players for some time. Finally, somehow, the wheel turns and the doors blast open."
How did that moment -- the doors blasting open -- happen for Ashley? How did this Jamaican-born, New York kid take to a game like chess? The too; didn't read version involves wanting to beat friends. The longer version? "Friends were playing it in high school and they were beating me and I couldn't stand it," he laughed. "There would be hustlers who would beat me and take my lunch money. I started reading a lot of books, started studying chess. Soon, I got good enough and none of them wanted to play me anymore. That was really it. I was serious, I read everything.
He was also self aware to know there weren't many who looked like but 'I was obsessed'. "I was aware of the fact because you couldn't be unaware. But, frankly, I was obsessed and there was no stopping (irrespective) of who was what or whether they looked like me. I was obsessed and I still am obsessed. My mind and soul was made for chess and my heart is in chess."
The 58-year-old, who earned the GM title in 2000, has been introducing both players at the start apart from moderating press conferences post all games. "Couldn't dream that I would be standing in Singapore," he said. "Introducing the best players in the world for the world chess Championship."
Every now and then, he takes a moment to think about that 14-year-old who had just come to NY. "I live life in grace," he said. "I'm just a run of the mill GM, who has somehow had the opportunities that I could have only dreamt of."
These days, he's dreaming of a medium-term future where 'we don't have to talk about this topic at all.'