is
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j New chess grandmaster
breaks stereotypes
BY BETH GARDINER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS "
NEW YORK - Maurice Ashley talks abour chess the way some
people describe their favorite poem or painting.
"It has a majesty, it has a mystical beauty, the pieces come alive
when you know what they can do." he says. "It's an unending fountain
of action and thrill rides, as tense as the last second of a basketball
game."
Ashley has devoted his life to chess, and at 33. he's achieved a dream
he's held dear since childhocxj,- and made history in the process.
Moving his bishop against an opponent s qUeen. the Brooklynite
fulfilled the final requirements last week for becoming a chess grand
master. the game's highest rank. He is the first black person ever to do
so.
"It's just been a whirlwind." Ashley said at the Harlem middle
school where he coached a chess team until 1997. "I've been thrilled
and ecstatic and on a high and unable to sleep. .1 have been dreaming
about becoming a grandmaster fof half my life."
Joining the uppermost ranks of the elite and clubbish chess world -
there are spme 470 grandmasters worldwide. 45 of them in the United
States - wasn't easy for a Jamaican immigrant who spent much of his
adolescence honing his game in Brooklyn's Prospect Park.
"Maurice almost did it by himself." said Jerald Times, a fellow chess
devotee who met Ashley in the park a decade ago. "He didn'j have a
whole Russian chess school, didn't have grandmasters training him."
Ashley 's casual childhood interest in chess got serious when a high
school friend whooped him in a game nearly 20 years ago.
"He just crushed me. and I couldn't believe it," Ashley recalled with
a laugh. "We don't take any beatings lying down in my family."
So the future grandmaster stuck his nose into a strategy book and
fell unexpectedly in love.
"Fourteen was the moment when I was electrified by the game." he
recalls now. "I found my passion in life."
Ashley didn't make the team at Brooklyn Technical High School, so
he joined the Black Bear School of Chess, a group of chess-obsessed
teens and twenty-somethings who played hard-fought, competitive
games in Prospect Park for hours on end.
He earned an undergraduate English degree at City College, and
later began coaching the Mott Hall Dark Knights, a middle school
chess team. - ?
The team won three national championships, and Ashley loved
sharing his passion with young players. But he itched to make his own
mark on the professional chess world.
"I felt there was a void, there was something that was missing, and
that was my own aspirations." he said.
He took a leave in September 1997 from the Harlem Educational
Activities Fund, which sponsors the Mott Hall program. With financial
support from the group's president. Dan Rose. Ashley devoted himself
to chess full time, studying at his home in the Park Slope neighborhood
and flying to tournaments in Germany. France and Hawaii.
Competitors say he's a cagey, aggressive player who never misses a
chance to gain an advantage on the board.
"You feel that if you make the slightest mistake, you're going to get
crushed." Times said.'
On March 14. Ashley's single-minded devotion paid ofT. At a tour
nament at the Manhattan Chess Club, which counts several grandmas
ters among its members. Ashley joined their ranks. The coveted title is
earned by performing well in high-level chess tournaments for a suffi
ciently long period of time.
Ashley said being the first black person to do so gives his victory
^special meaning.
"People around you can't help but feel that pride in^heir hearts." he
said "The stereotype in this country is that African-Americans don't
do well at things like chess. ... We're understood as physically gifted and
great entertainers, but when it comes to something intellectual. ... that
lags behind. ? '
"I know how brilliant black peopje are and I feel like my achieve
ment is a small drop to add to the wonderful intellectual greatness of
our heritage."
Students on the Mott Hall team are thrilled by their, old coach's
accomplishment, and say his making grandmaster will inspire them to
work harder toward their own goals.
"Me gave me a boost of confidence that I never hid before." said
Brian Ovalle. 13. a Dominican-American seventh grader. "Because he
did it. he made me believe that I could do it. because we're both minor
ity It's like when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. They did
n't believe he could do it. but he broke through "
Ashley says he wjpuld have liked to have a black grandmaster to
emulate when he was a young player.
"It was tough on me in the mid-'80s. looking at (chess) magazines
and not seeing arty black faces." he recalled "If there aren't examples,
you can't see how to do it WTiat I've been blessed to do is show
what's possible "
? ? ' . ' ' ? ' ' ty
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Jesse Jackson shuns 2000 pudental bid |
By JENNIFER LOVEN
WASHINGTON - Two-time
Democratic presidential candi
date Jesse Jackson will not make
a new bid for the White House in
2000. The Associated Press has
learned.
"He is not running. All of us
have been talking to him," a
source within Jackson's close cir
cle of political advisers said
Tuesday. Tl\e source spoke only
on condition of anonymity.
The source said that Jackson
wants to devote 4JI his attention
to his campaign to pressure Wall
Street into providing more start
up capital to minorities.
"Reverend Jackson doesn't
have to be a candidate to make an
impact," the adviser said.
The news of Jackson's deci
sion not to seek the presidency
will be delivered to supporters
Wednesday on thecampaign Web
site of his son. Rep. Jesse Jackson
Jr.. D-Ill., and later at a Chicago
news conference.
At press time. Jackson had
not posted his decision.
' The source said Jackson had
discussed the matter with Presi
dent Clinton when he joined him
on Air Force One on the way
back from a fund-raising trip to
Florida last week. ' <
Jackson himself said on Black
Entertainment Television's "Lead
Story"over the weekend that he
was "not very motivated to at1
this point"challenge Vice Presi
dent A1 Gore for the Democratic
nomination.
"While I have not. decided
altogether to say yes or no, I'm
inclined not to," Jackson said on
the program Sunday.
Speaking to reporters in
Chicago . on Tuesday, Jackson
would not reveal his plans, only
saying, "We intend to impact
*
public policy in a major way in
1999 and 2000."
Current and former Jackson
advisers said if he were to run it
would be with the goal of win
ning the nomination and not
pterely to ensure discussion of
issues he cares about. He is said
to be concerned that the newly
condensed primary season, which
requires candidates to raise
greater amounts of money soon
er. could inhibit his ability to be a
contender.
In addition. Jackson has not
begun building the kind of orga
nization needed to mount a seri
ous presidential run, nor has he
begun raising money for a bid,
people close to him said.
Disclosing his intentions first
on the Internet follows in the
footsteps of Republican Steve
Forbes, the only other candidate
to make an official announce
ment via a Web site.
If Jackson bows out, former
Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey
would remain Gore's only
declared competitor so far.
Other prominent Democrats
who have opted out are Sens:
Paul Wellstone of Minnesota,
John Kerry of Massachusetts
and Bob Kerrey of Nebraska and
House Minority Leader .Dick
Gephardt of Missouri.
Jackson's first White House
bid in 1984 was followed by a sec
ond populist race in 1988. Nearly
every presidential election season
since has seen him at least con
template a rerun.
The 57-year-old Jackson, who
calls both Chicago and Washing
ton home, has never held public
office but remains one of the
country's best-known black polit
ical leaders.
He founded Operation PUSH
in 1971, and still runs the now
merged Rainbow/PUSH Coali
tion, a Chicago-based nonprofit
organization seeking economic
and political empowerment for
minorities. Jackson also is the
author of two books, the host of
the CNN talk show "Both Side's
with Jesse Jackson" and Clinton's
envoy for democracy in Africa.
Earlier this decade, Jackson
was the District of Columbia's
"shadow senator," advocating for
statehood and voting representa
tion in Congress for the nation's
capital city.
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The Rev. Jesse Jackson, pictured above talking with gang members Airing a 1993 summit, will proba
bly not make a run for the White House, sources say. Jackson is expected to announce his decision some
time this week on the Internet.
Hospitalized octuplets continue to gain weight
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON - The four
surviving Houston octupiets
who remain hospitalized are ?
experiencing steady weight
gain, consuming a combina
tion of formula and mothers
milk, doctors say.
Girls Gorom. Chidi and
Chima Louis and their broth
er, Ikem, remained in serious
but stable condition Monday
at Texas Children's Hospital.
Three of the octupiets -
Ebuka. Echerem and Jioke -
went home March 3.
Chidi and ChYma are
expected to leave the hospital
later this month or in early
April. Gorom and Ikem, the
two smallest babies, face
longer hospital stays.
The eighth baby, Odera,
died in December, a week
after Nkem Chukwu delivered
the infants.
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