2008 Money Conference preview
An ocean of possibilities
An ocean of possibilities
Ashley speaks about chess with the enthusiasm he probably had when he first picked up the game. He’s abler to make a living off of teaching and playing the
game. “Thank goodness, I am able to make a living off of playing chess,” Ashley exclaimed. “There’s that great quote by Kahlil Gibran. ‘Work is love made
visible.’ And chess is my love. So whatever work it is, it’s this ever green fountain of joy. Every time I look at the board, it’s just an amazing opportunity to be a kid
again.
Outside of the beauty of chess and it’s endless possible moves, “an ocean of possibilities” according to Ashley, it is also a game that reveals a lot about
human character. “You see so much of your foibles, your tendencies, your wishful thinking and you really have to control all of those things while you are trying
to play this game because your opponent is constantly putting the challenge in front of you,” Ashley observed. “Often the first thing you do instinctively is not a
great thing to do. You really learn a lot about yourself. And part of growing as a chess player is taking the information that you learn about yourself and refining it
and even using it to your advantage. There are these great chess players who are incredible risk takers. If they have to calm down and not take risks, then they
end up being bad players because it’s in their personalities and in their blood. The question is how can they best execute their plan without stepping over the
edge, knowing wherein acceptable risk and foolhardiness lie. It’s not necessarily true that you learn all these bad things about yourself. Sometimes you learn that
you think too long and at decisive moments you are showing indecision. I’ve had that plague me during my career. Sometimes you learn that you didn’t
sufficiently prepare before a game or an event. Or you tried to prepare too much and you have to cover too many bases and you weren’t confident enough. You
learn all of these things. You learn good things about yourself. You learn about your boldness. You learn about your courage under fire. You learn how well you
do under pressure, when the moment is at hand and both sides are fighting for their lives and one cracks and it isn’t you and you go ‘Hey, that was pretty cool.’”
When he speaks at the Money Conference, Ashley, who will be releasing a book about chess next spring, will talk about the similarities of chess to financial
investment. “They are similar in terms of looking ahead and shoring up your small advantages instead of going for the big gamble,” Ashley said. “And sometimes
it’s timing out that gamble because it’s the right time and all of the signs are there for you to do it.”
If you ever see Maurice Ashley sitting still staring at a chess board, don’t think there isn’t anything going on. Deep inside him, there is a world of victory and
defeat going on inside, a thrill that any video game could not possibly try to reproduce.
For more information about the Money Conference, call 663—6332 or visit www.assetbuilders.com.
game. “Thank goodness, I am able to make a living off of playing chess,” Ashley exclaimed. “There’s that great quote by Kahlil Gibran. ‘Work is love made
visible.’ And chess is my love. So whatever work it is, it’s this ever green fountain of joy. Every time I look at the board, it’s just an amazing opportunity to be a kid
again.
Outside of the beauty of chess and it’s endless possible moves, “an ocean of possibilities” according to Ashley, it is also a game that reveals a lot about
human character. “You see so much of your foibles, your tendencies, your wishful thinking and you really have to control all of those things while you are trying
to play this game because your opponent is constantly putting the challenge in front of you,” Ashley observed. “Often the first thing you do instinctively is not a
great thing to do. You really learn a lot about yourself. And part of growing as a chess player is taking the information that you learn about yourself and refining it
and even using it to your advantage. There are these great chess players who are incredible risk takers. If they have to calm down and not take risks, then they
end up being bad players because it’s in their personalities and in their blood. The question is how can they best execute their plan without stepping over the
edge, knowing wherein acceptable risk and foolhardiness lie. It’s not necessarily true that you learn all these bad things about yourself. Sometimes you learn that
you think too long and at decisive moments you are showing indecision. I’ve had that plague me during my career. Sometimes you learn that you didn’t
sufficiently prepare before a game or an event. Or you tried to prepare too much and you have to cover too many bases and you weren’t confident enough. You
learn all of these things. You learn good things about yourself. You learn about your boldness. You learn about your courage under fire. You learn how well you
do under pressure, when the moment is at hand and both sides are fighting for their lives and one cracks and it isn’t you and you go ‘Hey, that was pretty cool.’”
When he speaks at the Money Conference, Ashley, who will be releasing a book about chess next spring, will talk about the similarities of chess to financial
investment. “They are similar in terms of looking ahead and shoring up your small advantages instead of going for the big gamble,” Ashley said. “And sometimes
it’s timing out that gamble because it’s the right time and all of the signs are there for you to do it.”
If you ever see Maurice Ashley sitting still staring at a chess board, don’t think there isn’t anything going on. Deep inside him, there is a world of victory and
defeat going on inside, a thrill that any video game could not possibly try to reproduce.
For more information about the Money Conference, call 663—6332 or visit www.assetbuilders.com.
By Jonathan Gramling
It’s an idyllic summer scene in a city park somewhere. An elder and a young man sitting in the shade with a slight breeze
flowing as they sit like statues staring at a chess board, seeming to take ages to ponder and take the next move.
But inside these two opponents, an entirely different scenario is unfolding. “I think what gets us is how amazing it is when an
army comes together in an organized fashion, begins an assault, maybe needs to sacrifice 1-2 incredibly important pieces or
pawns to get the attack going, burst through enemy lines and begin to chase the king and then through a series of precise
moves, captures the enemy by surprise and nails the king into a corner,” said Maurice Ashley in a phone interview with The
Capital City Hues. “That’s the passion we have for the game. That’s what a lot of us dream about doing. It’s the joy of the hunt.”
Ashley is the first African American who attained the level of international grandmaster in chess. He’s also the featured speaker
at the 2008 Money Conference being held August 16 at Wright Middle School.
Ashley first dabbled in chess at age 14 and was hopelessly hooked by the game when he was 17 years old. “I first got
serious about chess when a kid at Brooklyn Technical High School beat me,” Ashley recalled. “I didn’t realize that it was
possible to lose that easily. I happened to be in the school library and I saw a book on chess. I didn’t realize there were chess
books. Little did I know there were thousands of chess books. I opened up that book and from that moment I was in love with
chess. I had this dream at that moment that I would become a chess grandmaster.”
On his way to becoming a grandmaster, while he was at City University of New York, Ashley worked with a group of junior
high school students from Harlem and introduced them to chess. In a situation that resembles Denzel Washington’s “The Great
Debaters,” Ashley’s students won the 1991 National Junior High School Chess Tournament in Dearborn, Mich.
It’s an idyllic summer scene in a city park somewhere. An elder and a young man sitting in the shade with a slight breeze
flowing as they sit like statues staring at a chess board, seeming to take ages to ponder and take the next move.
But inside these two opponents, an entirely different scenario is unfolding. “I think what gets us is how amazing it is when an
army comes together in an organized fashion, begins an assault, maybe needs to sacrifice 1-2 incredibly important pieces or
pawns to get the attack going, burst through enemy lines and begin to chase the king and then through a series of precise
moves, captures the enemy by surprise and nails the king into a corner,” said Maurice Ashley in a phone interview with The
Capital City Hues. “That’s the passion we have for the game. That’s what a lot of us dream about doing. It’s the joy of the hunt.”
Ashley is the first African American who attained the level of international grandmaster in chess. He’s also the featured speaker
at the 2008 Money Conference being held August 16 at Wright Middle School.
Ashley first dabbled in chess at age 14 and was hopelessly hooked by the game when he was 17 years old. “I first got
serious about chess when a kid at Brooklyn Technical High School beat me,” Ashley recalled. “I didn’t realize that it was
possible to lose that easily. I happened to be in the school library and I saw a book on chess. I didn’t realize there were chess
books. Little did I know there were thousands of chess books. I opened up that book and from that moment I was in love with
chess. I had this dream at that moment that I would become a chess grandmaster.”
On his way to becoming a grandmaster, while he was at City University of New York, Ashley worked with a group of junior
high school students from Harlem and introduced them to chess. In a situation that resembles Denzel Washington’s “The Great
Debaters,” Ashley’s students won the 1991 National Junior High School Chess Tournament in Dearborn, Mich.
International Chess
Grandmaster Maurice Ashley
Grandmaster Maurice Ashley