Ashley graduated from the College of the City of New York (CCNY), and represented the school in intercollegiate team competition. Always promoting chess among youth, Ashley coached the Raging Rooks of Harlem, and the Dark Knights (also from Harlem), both of which have won national championships under his guidance. In September 1999, he opened the Harlem Chess Center which has attracted such celebrities as Larry Johnson and Wynton Marsalis. Ashley was named 2003 Grandmaster of the Year by the U.S. Chess Federation. He makes appearances all over the country speaking to young people and adults about chess and its benefits.
In 2003 Maurice Ashley wrote an essay The End of the Draw Offer?, which raised discussion about ways to avoid quick agreed draws in chess tournaments.
In 2007 Ashley returned to his birth country of Jamaica and became the first GM to ever participate in a tournament in that country. The tourney, a six round Swiss named the Frederick Cameron Open was held at the Jamaica Conference center on the 15th and 16th of December 2007. After sweeping a field consisting of several of Jamaica's top players and Barbadian FIDE master Philip Corbin he fell victim to a potential double attack in the final round to Jamaican National Master Jomo Pitterson. He placed second on five points behind Pitterson (5.5).
In 2008, Ashley was featured in an interview for the CNN documentary Black in America.
Quote
- "African continent GMs do exist; but, according to the system of racial classification, I am the first Black GM in history...it matters, and doesn't matter, all at the same time.
Footnotes
External links
- mauriceashley.com (official website)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Monday October 06, 2008 at 11:06:35 PDT (GMT -0700)
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