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Chessville
From the
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Quite simply, GM Maurice Ashley has written an exciting book about chess and young chess players - one that will be enjoyed by those who know the Royal Game, and perhaps just as much by those who do not. Chess for Success will move people to participate in or support the growing world of scholastic chess. It should be on bookshelves in the library, the classroom – and the board room.
In the first chapter, “Chess Impacts My Life,” we learn that young Maurice, born in Jamaica and moved to Brooklyn, found the educational system empty and unchallenging – until he chanced upon a chess book in the school library, and was electrified by what he had found:
But Chess for Success is a candy store of a book, and I’ve already moved too fast. Let me back up. The book sports a Foreword by Will Smith, rapper, tv & movie star, whose wife gave him a special Valentine’s Day gift a few years ago: a personal chess lesson with Maurice Ashley. (Is that true love, or what??) Will Smith plays chess? Why not? Check out the quotes from Wynton Marsalis and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., on the back cover, while you’re at it. The Introduction presents the book’s theme of the transformative power of chess, especially in the lives of children. The author also presents and dispels seven Myths About Chess, e.g. “Chess is boring.” Roll ahead to chapter two, “A Brief History of Chess.” Yes, Virginia, chess existed before Bobby Fischer, and after the reign of The Soviet School of Chess. Ashley takes the time to place himself in context, as the first black man to become an International Grandmaster. Chess is the touchstone of the intellect. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Chapter three has several parts. “Thinking and Chess” contains Stats and Studies, which touches on recent research that shows the positive impact chess study has on students. A New York City school superintendent reflects:
Ashley links University of Chicago professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s notion of “flow” (or “being in the zone”), usually used in explaining peak sports performance, to chess experiences. This enjoyable, selfless, focused involvement is a positive chessplay byproduct. Chess and the 40 Developmental Assets shows how the Search Institute’s framework that predicts healthy growth in young people interfaces with scholastic chess involvement. Examples are: family support, adult role models, caring school climate, positive peer influence and high expectations. (A similar argument can be made for a whole host of sports, of course – but be sure to fold in their costs to the school and player, as well as assorted bumps and bruises.) Add this to the section on Bloom’s Taxonomy (“levels of intellectual behavior important in learning”), which chess seems designed to impact, and you have a strong argument, expressed in lay language, that chess makes you better at a whole host of things. Some of us know this already, many still need to discover it. I warne yow wel, it is no childes pley. – Geoffrey Chaucer
“Ho, ho, ho,” you say to yourself, “That’s easy for a Grandmaster-in-the-making, coach, and instructor to pull off, but what about regular old Joe Pawnpusher?” Wouldn’t you know, chapter five is “Keeping Kids Involved,” including Twenty-five Activities to Keep It Fun and even How to Keep Girls Involved. Even with the rise of the Polgars, that last section remains important. It is a game too
troublesome for some men's braines, too full of anxiety, all out as bad as
study; Chapter six presents “A Few Life Lessons.” I have to admit I'm partial to "Get good to really appreciate greatness in others." Personal words from the Grandmaster. Ashley is hardly done. The Chapter “More Tips and Tools” has FAQs [frequently asked questions] to Getting Started for Parents and Educators; The Rules of Chess; a Glossary of Chess Terms; Recommended Books; Internet Resources and They All Play(ed) Chess. That last section is great fun: from Nobel Laureates to film and tv personalities to authors to sports heroes to politicians and military leaders – who knew all these people pushed pawns? (Memo to Bill Gates, of Microsoft: take a meeting with Mr. Ashley, bring a check with a whole lot of zeroes.) Like I said: Get this book. Go through it. Pass it on. (If Maurice Ashley’s Best Games of Chess ever comes out, get it, go through it – and then give it to me.) There are people out there who need to know what chess opportunities are out there waiting for a chance to be enacted – and, with their help, what else can be accomplished. Teachers. Principals. Librarians. Counselors. Business people, small and large, working and retired. You know some of them. In fact, if you can name someone you know personally who you think could make a difference, using chess to enhance the life and education of students, send me an email and let me know. We at Chessville have two or three extra copies of Chess for Success, and we’d be happy to help you help those books find a home. Here's all you have to do:
We'll select the
finalists, and then enlist the help of our "Mystery Panelist" to help choose
who gets these free copies of Chess for Success by GM Maurice Ashley.
All submissions become the property of Chessville, and all decisions of the
judges are final. Winning entrants, at the very least, will have their
entries posted here.
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Advertise to Single insert:
The
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Chapter four,
“Chess and Schools,” brings us back to the life of Maurice Ashley. He
introduces us to his work as a middle school chess instructor, and he
profiles three successful scholastic chess programs (Chess-in-the-Schools in
NYC; Chess for Success in Portland; the Hilda Blowers Foundation in Eagan,
Minnesota). If you aren’t already reaching for your checkbook to
support a local program, the section My Students, in Their Own Words will
hurry you up. Tales from Ashley’s players on the Raging Rooks and Dark
Knight teams, national champions, put recognizable faces on much of the
sociology and psychology previously presented.
