Jamaal Abdul-Alim, World Chess, December 15, 2015:<\/p>\n
After Emory Tate, Jr., an American international master, died in October during a chess tournament in California, one grandmaster described his death as a \u201cdevastating loss.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tate\u2019s death at 57 was not only sad for those who knew him and admired his tactical skill and outsized personality, it left a major void among international titled black players from the United States.<\/p>\n
Only four black Americans\u2013including Tate\u2013have become at least international masters, according to \u201cDrum Majors of Chess,\u201d a web-based wall of fame maintained on \u201cThe Chess Drum,\u201d a website devoted to Black chess players throughout the world. Kassa Korley, who lives in New York, is one of the three, but on the Web site of the World Chess Federation, he is listed as playing for Denmark, where he has familial roots and dual citizenship.<\/p>\n
Maurice Ashley\u2013the chess commentator and impresario\u2013is often cited as the first and only African-American grandmaster from the United States, though even he was born in Jamaica.<\/p>\n
The only other titled black American player is Stephen Muhammad, an inactive international master from Georgia, who is also a Nation of Islam minister.<\/p>\n
As the obstacles to playing chess appear to be low\u2013players only need a board and pieces and do not need to be athletes\u2013and the game is popular on the streets of many cities, the dearth of titled black players is puzzling on its surface. But, according to players and people involved in teaching chess, lack of money is one of the biggest barriers to blacks excelling in the world of tournament chess.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the people that play, they have disposable income,\u201d said Ronald J. Jones, a black expert player and former Washington, D.C., champion. \u201cThey can afford to spend $300 for a tournament, $500 for a hotel, another $1000 for an airline ticket to another state.\u201d {snip}<\/p>\n
{snip}<\/p>\n
Jerald Times, a master and chess coach at the elite Dalton School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, said, \u201cI believe grandmaster is more an economic measurement than an intellectual one. The idea of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, yes, that can happen every once in a while. But for the most part, that kid (in the inner city) is not gonna take six hours of his life a day and study chess.\u201d<\/p>\n
Times noted that the lack of black grandmasters is a worldwide phenomenon. \u201cThe numbers are low,\u201d he said. \u201cOut of the 1500 grandmasters in the world, only three or four are black.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jamaal Abdul-Alim, World Chess, December 15, 2015: After Emory Tate, Jr., an American international master, died in October during a chess tournament in California, one grandmaster described his death as a \u201cdevastating loss.\u201d Tate\u2019s death at 57 was not only … Continue reading