Posted in Drum Majors, Media Stories on Dec 23rd, 2010 2 Comments »
After the release of his ChessBase DVD, Grandmaster Maurice Ashley has recently released his latest project called MATCH for Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess. This application will run on the iPhone and can be downloaded for $4.99. The app is named after the famous CD “Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess” but has been upgraded with new training [...]
Posted in Drum Majors, Media Stories, Videos on Nov 17th, 2010 2 Comments »
What is Maurice Ashley doing these days? A lot of things. He’s not behind the board yet, but he was recently seen on the pages of New in Chess (2010/7). He penned an article about the World Chess Challenge, a match between Magnus Carlsen and the World. The world was led by a tripartite of [...]
Posted in Scholastic on Jun 23rd, 2010 No Comments »
Maurice Ashley is leading a chess camp at Huber Memorial Church in Baltimore. The Brooklyn-based Grandmaster has been singing the virtues of chess for two decades as a chess evangelist. He has been a player, coach, commentator, author and even a fan. Ashley’s story is well-known, but each time he tells it provides an opportunity [...]
Posted in Drum Majors, Media Stories, Videos on Aug 5th, 2009 9 Comments »
Grandmaster Maurice Ashley is prepared to release a new book titled, “The Most Valuable Skills in Chess” by Gambit Books. This book is after his “Chess for Success” debut. The video below has some detail, but it appears that Ashley had adapted some of his material from his popular CD. I have not previewed the [...]
Posted in Audio, Drum Majors, Interviews on May 21st, 2009 No Comments »
Award-winning journalist Macauley Peterson caught up with Grandmaster Maurice Ashley and got an update on his recent projects, one of which is a new website called, “Maurice Ashley Trains Champions.” His recent intiatives highlight the ever-increasing thrust in scholastic chess and the efforts being made to make chess more prominent in the educational landscape. Ashley [...]
Posted in Africa, Photos, Scholastic, South Africa on Mar 29th, 2009 25 Comments »
GM Maurice Ashley recently spent time in South Africa touring the schools and promoting chess. He was able to leave the students with some valuable life lessons. The host was David Berman who runs the program, “Chess for Change”. Ashley sent the following letter: Hey Daaim: I just came back from a deeply humbling yet [...]
Posted in Drum Majors on Feb 10th, 2009 16 Comments »
National Master Glenn Bady of Challenging Heads Chess has noticed that GM Maurice Ashley (left) is scheduled to speak at the World Conference on Chess-in-Schools. The event will take place in Turin, Italy from February 25-27th and will be attended by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Ashley is best known as the first “African-American Grandmaster” and [...]
Posted in Tactics Lab on Jan 16th, 2009 No Comments »
February is “Black History Month” and while the celebration typically focuses on the same figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet Tubman and Jesse Owens, there are some forgotten heroes in our history. While there are many figures in sport who have made contributions, chess has often be overlooked in the Black community [...]
Posted in Drum Majors, Tournaments, USA on Dec 15th, 2008 13 Comments »
GM Maurice Ashley playing in Jamaica in 2007. Maurice Ashley has taken a lengthy break from professional chess since 2003 and is slowly working his way back into playing shape. The Brooklyn-based Grandmaster told The Chess Drum last month that he was back! Since then he has played in three rapid tournaments at the prestigious [...]
Posted in Tactics Lab on Dec 6th, 2008 5 Comments »
More crackers to snack on! This month’s Olympiad edition brings fireworks. Botswana’s national champion Phemelo Khetho made quite an impression with his win over an IM from Indonesia, Sadikin Irwanto. He plays a slow and stodgy KIA, but builds up a lethal attack with a number of killer moves! Very difficult problem. FM Phemelo Khetho [...]
Posted in USA on Sep 20th, 2008 7 Comments »
Garry Kasparov will be coming to Harlem on September 28th to participate in the Harlem Children’s Zone’s festival. The former champion will be giving a 20-board simultaneous exhibition. There will be many activities including a blitz tournament and other contests. This event continues the tradition of chess festivals in historic Harlem and it has been [...]
Posted in Tournaments, USA on Aug 26th, 2008 5 Comments »
2008 Harlem Blitz Championship Photos by Derrick Bryant. Harlem, a place of historic prominence in the arts, continues to add to its resume with the 2nd Annual Blitz Championship. The city was host to the historic Wilbert Paige Memorial in 2001 and was immortalized when Maurice Ashley coached Harlem teams to prominence. Adia Onyango sent [...]
Posted in Denmark, Drum Majors, Ghana, Scholastic, USA on Aug 21st, 2008 36 Comments »
Last month Kassa Korley played in the St. John’s Masters tournament in New York. At the World Open he had mentioned a time when he was close to the title of National Master (2185) and then losing a boatload of points. He actually lost rating points in nine consecutive tournaments before making a turnaround and [...]
Posted in Drum Majors on Jun 24th, 2008 11 Comments »
Posted in USA, Videos on May 31st, 2008 31 Comments »
Washington Square Park in the “Village” area of New York is a historic place in chess lore. It is the place where many famous chess players have roamed and many stories have been borne. “Searching for Bobby Fischer” featured scenes in the famous park and featured these players as did movies like “Fresh” and books [...]
Posted in Drum Majors on Mar 22nd, 2008 No Comments »
GM Maurice Ashley continues his speaking tour and told a group of Richmond, Virginia students that they must have confidence in themselves to succeed. He encouraged them to be resilient and fight back after one’s losses. “When I lose, I learn. I don’t cry, whine, pout, curse, blame my friends, say I didn’t sleep enough [...]
Posted in Barbados, Caribbean, Drum Majors on Feb 21st, 2008 No Comments »
GM Maurice Ashley, first African American to earn an International Grandmaster Chess title, visited Barbados during February 2008. On 19th February, 2008 at 7 PM he delivered an inspiring oration at LV Harcourt Lewis Training Centre, Barbados Public Workers’ Co-operative Credit Union Ltd., Belmont Road, St. Michael. ** Be Inspired! The Road to the “Grandmastership”! [...]
Posted in Caribbean, Jamaica, Tournaments on Dec 20th, 2007 5 Comments »
GM Maurice Ashley and Jomo Pitterson face off in a fierce last-round battle. Pitterson scored an upset victory and won the 2007 Fred Cameron crown held in Jamaica. Photo by Allan Herbert. GM Maurice Ashley is certainly an icon in Jamaica. His story is well-known and when he was invited back to his native country, [...]
Posted in Drum Majors on Oct 9th, 2007 No Comments »
GM Maurice Ashley giving a 20-board simul at Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt library. Photo by André F. Chung. Those of you wondering where Grandmaster Maurice Ashley is can rest assured that he is still blazing the trail to promote chess. Well known by now, Ashley has continue to serve as an ambassador and role model. In a recent visit to Baltimore, [...]
Posted in Drum Majors, Games on Aug 2nd, 2007 3 Comments »
Some time ago, I found these two videos of the 1995 WCC match between Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand. GM Maurice Ashley (USA) and GM Daniel King (United Kingdom) did the commentary. What was nice about these two videos was not only the intensity of the game, but the exciting commentary by Ashley and King. Ashley [...]
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