grandmaster maurice ashley plays nyc trash talker

#Grandmaster maurice ashley plays nyc trash talker professional#

Maurice’s confidence as a supreme game enthusiast got the best of him, and he was soundly defeated by a classmate. Maurice (right) with family members in Brooklyn, New York When he got to Brooklyn Tech High School, he rekindled his interest in the game.

How did this 12-year old kid from Wolmer Boys School in Jamaica find his niche in an unlikely game? He previously learned the moves from his brother while in Jamaica, but took no active interest. He soon discovered that Brownsville section of Brooklyn was no joke! In a city of sport-crazed fans, where would Maurice express his talents? Basketball? Boxing? Track? Soccer? No… it would be chess! The first years of adjustment were challenging as young Maurice had naive ideas about life in America. Years later, Maurice would later admit the difficulty of the 10-year separation. Andrew, Jamaica and landed in New York to be reunited with their mother. After ten years in the care of their grandmother, Maurice and his siblings ( Devon and Alicia) left St. It’s not easy to be away from your own children for even a short amount of time. Both of us would serve complementary roles in expressing our own passions for chess. It would appear that our initial meeting in Chicago was not a coincidence. That plan would later become The Chess Drum. We met at Washington Square Park and I shared with him the aforementioned marketing plan. There may have been a fair amount of Chicago Bulls – New York Knicks trash-talking as well! The conversations were lively and cordial as we continued to share our dreams and ambitions as far as chess was concerned.

Photos by Daaim Shabazz.Īs if by design, I would spend the next summer in New York interning at Time Warner’s Sports Illustrated on Avenue of Americas. Junior Open and earn his National Master’s title. Next year, Mitchell would win the 1990 U.S.

Kimani Stancil, then the Maryland High School Champion, looks on. Mitchell (and his seated opponent) at the 1989 U.S. He loved it!įM Maurice Ashley analyzing with R.O. The next day, I brought a “boom box” and blared Steel Pulse’s Earth Crisis album in the skittles room.

#Grandmaster maurice ashley plays nyc trash talker professional#

It became clear that we shared similar interests outside of chess including professional sports and reggae music. After that, we struck up a friendly conversation during which I said, “You’ve obviously been to Jamaica.” He explained he was born there. Somewhere along the way, I casually introduced myself. One day he was wearing a t-shirt with a “Jamaica” design. He walked with an air of confidence and seemed to possess boundless energy. Nevertheless, I saw this young man playing on the top 20 boards round after round. The exceptions were once in New York for the Pan-Am Intercollegiate and once in Las Vegas for the National Open. Honestly, I knew nothing of Maurice at the time since I played practically all of my tournament chess in Illinois. The plan would include a quarterly magazine with an international circulation. During a graduate-level marketing class, I was able to write a marketing plan for the idea. At this time, I had already started the groundwork for a chess network for players of African descent. Open held just outside of Chicago at the Rosemont Hyatt. I met Maurice Ashley nearly 30 years ago at the 1989 U.S.