The Challenges of Black Chess Masters
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Sweden’s GM Pontus Carlsson at 2008 European Championship.
Photo from eicc2008.com.
As of 2010, there are three Grandmasters of African descent (Maurice Ashley-USA, Pontus Carlsson-Sweden, Amon Simutowe-Zambia). Each of these players met unique challenges in their rise toward Grandmasterdom. No other player of African descent is close to making their third GM norm. Why is this? There are a number of challenges things that continue to inhibit this rise. In this brief essay, we will look at a few of the challenges that often come up.
(Note: As of 2022, the number of Black Grandmasters has reached double digits including earlier omissions.)
Intelligence
Let’s address this straight-on. I was once asked by a Latin American whether Blacks were intelligent enough to be Grandmasters. The question was not posed with any malice or ill-will; it was a person asking a genuine follow-up question about the small number of Black Grandmasters I had named for him.
However, there are other forums that make it a contentious issue. There was once a debate on a White supremacist website stating that it is unlikely that a Black person can be a chess Grandmaster. That was until one of the posters found an article on The Chess Drum about Ashley! The debate ended immediately. First, let’s ask the question, “Is chess really an adequate measure of requisite intelligence?” One study showed,
Chess is not necessarily a game reserved for people with IQ scores on par with Einstein. In fact, chess strategy may rely more heavily on spatial processing than on logic and computational skills. (see article)
Of course, there are all types of historic racial stereotypes about the intelligence of Blacks, or people of African descent. There have been crackpot race theories, specious experiments about cranial size, and other notions taken from religious interpretations. All of these have been debated and while largely dismissed, the debate rages on. Incidentally, out of the small cadre of Black Masters in the world, many are involved in analytical fields such as computer science, physics, mathematics, finance, and medicine.
That chess players are necessarily smarter than the next person, appears to be a misnomer. There simply is too much variation in the socioeconomic background of chess players to make that assertion. Many chess players (of all backgrounds) share some degree of skill in pattern recognition and analytical ability, but if raw intelligence was the only prerequisite, many elite thinkers would master chess without difficulty.
Financial
Perhaps the biggest of challenges for Black players seeking higher heights in chess has always been obtaining the financial wherewithal to travel and earn the required norms for FIDE titles. To play chess is a choice, but what may inhibit a player from pursuing a dream is the lack of resources. While Black players living in the U.S. or Europe may have more norm opportunities than players in Africa, Latin America, or the Caribbean, there are still the high costs associated with training and traveling.
Granted these are barriers that all players face, but Blacks tend to face greater financial hardship (on average) for a multitude of socioeconomic and historical reasons. Thus, the opportunity costs for focusing on chess remain exceedingly high. Since the payoff is usually not commensurate with the investment of time and money, the focus on chess becomes an afterthought. Many promising players have left the game for better economic opportunities and have relegated chess as a weekend hobby, or have quit altogether.
Opportunities
The issue of adequate opportunities is another issue. For those on the African continent, the chances are rare as there are few tournaments offering the competition needed to raise the level of one’s play. Thus, talented players like IM Watu Kobese (South Africa), IM Kenny Solomon (South Africa) and IM Robert Gwaze (Zimbabwe) have had to scramble for opportunities and raise thousands of dollars to travel on long and tortuous flights up the length of Africa and into Europe or to the U.S. In the Caribbean, there are a few more international tournaments being offered and perhaps the tourist venues can attract foreign players so that locals can get more experience.
IM Kenny Solomon of South Africa has been spending
a lot of time in Europe in search of GM norms.
Photo by Daaim Shabazz.
Race and Class
Race is always a controversial subject when discussing merit-based activities like chess. There has been no empirical research conducted to show that systematic racism has prevented Black players from excelling in chess. U.S. players like Walter Harris was certainly excluded from certain opportunities in the 60s, but one may argue that the issue is more of class than race. That does not mean instances of discrimination don’t exist. They do.
Walter Harris (left), the first Black National Master in the U.S.
Photo by Daaim Shabazz.
Changing the number of qualifiers in the FIDE knockout would also be a blow to African players. One famous Grandmaster was quoted as saying that Africans did not rightfully deserve of six slots because they had lower ELO ratings. In another controversial issue, the idea of awarding IM titles to players at the subzonals is still up for debate. African and Caribbean players are often singled out in the debate despite the fact that the practice occurs in other regions.
Perhaps singling out these regions may show that race may be an underlying factor, but this is clearly a class issue since it affects all weaker federations. In other board sports like draughts (international checkers), Africans are among the game’s top competitors and thus, widely-respected. One problem with this issue is that one gains respect with a strong presence and apart from Carlsson, Simutowe, Solomon and legendary International Master Emory Tate, Black players are largely absent in international chess.
Talent
There is one other factor… talent. How does one measure talent in chess? There are always age-based accomplishments, but they are imprecise and predictions are often not linear. For example, because a player made Grandmaster (2500) at age 15 does not mean that a player has to be 2000 by age 10 and improve 100 ELO every year.
Talent is not measured in a linear progression. Nevertheless, talent can be more accurately measured by the quality of play. With someone to accurately assess this talent will be important in development. Unfortunately, there is not always coaching available and most players of African descent are self-taught and do not have any formal coaching. Simutowe earned a Grandmaster title without a trainer and few resources. He mentioned that he would have been a lot more efficient if he could have hired the services of a trainer… even for a short span.
Darrian Robinson at the 2010 World Open.
Photo by Daaim Shabazz.
Final Thoughts
First, there has to be more of a collaborative effort between players. That can be attained through deeper networking. Joint analysis, sharing of data, and collaboration should be intensified. The legend of the “Black Bear School of Chess” was a novel idea of collaboration amongst Black players in New York. Maurice Ashley and several strong masters were raised from this organization. They were serious, focused, had study sessions and training matches. When Ashley became the first African-American Grandmaster in 1999, this served as its best example of harnessing talent. There is no reason these groups cannot function even through the use of online servers.
Second, there has to be a plan of mentorship for juniors. Scholastic chess is booming and features several talented players of African descent. The question with these players may be finding the right guidance to keep them motivated. There is also a need for the presence of role models and mentors for younger players. Typically, the impressions from a player with whom you share a commonality are deeper and perhaps more familiar. However, most of the top Black Masters are either not active or playing very little.
Lastly, there is a dearth of norm tournaments organized by players of African descent. This will be one way of ensuring more opportunities for aspiring GMs or IMs. Of course, these events require sponsorship and logistical support. There has to be a concerted effort to organize these tournaments or talent will continue to waste away without being realized. The question is, “Who makes the sacrifice?”
Note: When I asked GM Maurice Ashley about his personal challenges, he mentioned five of them:
- Traveling for international events
- Finding good training
- Having strong training partners
- Having a family
- Starting late
(read entire response)
Daaiim:
Can you become a Grandmaster using computers alone?
Many young people today depend on computers for training.
Computers are a mainstay in the professional ranks today.
Also, if you could give me some advice on improving my game, it would be appreciated (my current rank is 1066 USCF).
The comment about spatial sense is interesting. I have been a witness to discussions about spatial sense (apart from chess) as being an aspect of the highly intelligent. Racists have asserted that ‘blacks don’t have spatial sense’. I think more than anything, chess mastery refutes that statement specifically. Spatial sense questions are asked on I.Q. tests. It’s also interesting that Albert Einstein was mentioned, because he was heavily talented in spatial sense. His renowned prowess in geometry requiring mental visualization is what made him famous. He was less talented at formulaic non-visualized mathematics.
Another observation I have is that chess is a very good candidate for the racist ‘move the goal post’ trick. What happens is, any activity that does not include a significant representation of blacks is held in very high esteem. Then, when blacks break into it, the activity’s esteem lowers instead of blacks’ esteem rising. A good example is quarterbacking at the NFL level. When there were very few blacks, there was a largely unspoken opinion that the position required a lot of smarts. When there became a significant number of blacks doing it, then the focus shifted to the kind of quarterback; i.e. pocket passer versus mobile. Now its the pocket passer that requires a lot of smarts. He’s called a ‘field general’ (and by the way, ‘move the goalpost’ also applies to black command officers in the military). In the near future, when more blacks are pocket passers, the bigots will drop it all together and forget that they ever said that quarterbacking requires all those smarts. Unfortunately, the same pattern may appear with chess. This is especially a probability because the lay spectator doesn’t really understand what it takes to be a high level chess player–he understands quarterbacking better. I guess the goalpost won’t be able to move back any further once a black person wins a nobel prize in hard science–but then again, they may think of a way…
I would strongly agree with economic viability and family responsibilities as playing the critical role in the success of more Black talents. Personally, I made the ‘easy’ choice toward academics and science long ago though I prefer chess more than most interests. Also, I do think that not having a chess playing family definitely influenced my decision, my relatively late start(self taught, first tournament at age 14, and achieved Top 50 list for Age 17-18), and infrequent playing schedule(I never played in the U.S. Junior Open events but I did play in the Denker Tourney…).
I would also point to other examples than me like RO Mitchell(deceased) – former U.S. Junior Open Winner, Elvin Wilson – former National Highschool Winner (when in 11th grade), etc… as known from this site! Based on my knowledge and friendship with the two above, I know that economics have played a role in their chess choices yet their formidable talent is(was) undeniable.
Kimani A. Stancil, PhD, Professor of Physics, School Board Member, Family man(and father), etc…, and always strong at chess(with little time to prepare).
Leaving aside accusations of racism, there is more than ample evidence that black Americans have much lower average IQs than white Americans or those of Oriental origin. That doesn’t mean there are no very clever blacks – of course there are. It just means that there are far fewer per thousand people. That explains why there are some excellent black chess players but not too many. Accusing someone who says this of being racist is asinine and makes it impossible to address any race-related problems.
Well from an Ultramodern perspective its clear that Traditionalism isnt any good for those of african descent, just go over Tates games and its obvious, so this is one of the main reasons for many of us not makin their traditional titles and rating requirements! as for me i just have been too busy with ULTRA to bother, although i did compete with their gms from 1998-2008 on the ICC and won rather simply. The old chess methods dont really suits most American players either so im not surprised when many dont do so hot internationally , even when ur talkin about the top U.S. representative naka who just won over the other traditionlist in the U.S. i think i heard them on the chess sites talkin about hes a minus 12 now vs lil magasparov, and i thought it was eleven! so this is news to me! oh HBD GARRY! Nice chess! LOL
Wow! NEWS TO ME that GM Carlsson can speak so many different languages and is an “educated language teacher in Spanish and English and holds a huge linguistic interest. Therefore I can hold the classes in many languages like English, Spanish, German, French, Swedish or Chinese”. IM Tate had a similar interest in learning languages and was fluent in Russian.
The theories about blacks being less intelligent than whites isn’t a crackpot race theory; it is the truth. That fact explains why blacks score less well in school grades and on standardized academic tests, why blacks underperform in intellectually demanding jobs (even though they get them through “equal opportunity” laws), why there aren’t many black chess grandmasters, and why blacks who do hold a GM title are all very low-Elo GMs, either barely qualified or, sometimes, not really qualified.
Kenny Solomon’s Elo rating for standard chess is 2371. If he weren’t a black African, FIDE wouldn’t have awarded him a grandmaster title because, for any other kind of chess player, the minimum Elo rating required for the GM title is 2500.
Likewise, for any race other than black African, a female chess player must have a minimum Elo rating of 2000 for the title of Woman Candidate Master, and a minimum Elo rating of 2100 for the title of Woman FIDE Master. Yet Phiona Mutesi of Uganda has the WCM title, even though her Elo is 1622, and Claire Ivy Amoko, Uganda’s current top female player, has the WFM title, even though her Elo rating is only 1822.
The world chess Federation has been awarding titles to blacks upon reduced minimum criteria. If you are an African black, then FIDE will give you a title that no other kind of human being can get unless their Elo rating is 200 to 400 points higher than the rating that you have.
Yes, there are black scientists and engineers. But, descriptions to the contrary notwithstanding, none of them have really been “great” ones. The racial situation in scientific professions is much the same as it is in chess: a few blacks are decently good, but the top performers are not blacks.
And the main reason isn’t that blacks and whites differ in economic circumstances. It’s that they differ in brain size. Yes, they really do. The difference is somewhere between 80 grams and 100 grams of brain mass, mostly in the cerebrum, where abstract thinking occurs. That alone makes the white-black IQ gap, and the white-black intellectual achievement gap, and the white-black socio-economic gap, entirely understandable.
In a sense, you don’t really deny this point by saying that, sometimes, blacks perform less well because they came from poor families. That’s because the poverty of those families was, in the first place, most often the result of inferior intelligence.
Perfectly good psychometric studies carried out and published over the years has shown that, among persons resident in the United States, whites have an average IQ of 101.5 and a standard deviation in IQ of 16.4 points, while blacks have an average IQ of 85.0 and a standard deviation in IQ of 12.4 points. I’m using mixed sources, one of which is “Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development,” but those numbers should be pretty good.
The fraction, f, of a race having an average IQ of x? and a standard deviation in IQ of ?, which is above the minimum IQ of ?, can be estimated as follows:
f(?) = ½ ? [??(2?)]?¹ ?(x?,?) exp{ ?[(x?x?)/?]²/2 } dx
For US-resident whites, x?=101.5 and ?=16.4.
For US-resident blacks, x?=85.0 and ?=12.4.
Let’s say that you need a minimum IQ of 140 to acquire a world Elo rating of 2500 for standard chess, thus being qualified for the World Chess Federation’s title of Grand Master. What would be the ratio of US-resident whites who could qualify to US-resident blacks who could qualify? Solving the equation above, we estimate that the fraction of US-resident whites with IQ’s above 140 is 0.0094484 (or 1 in 106), and that the fraction of US-resident blacks with IQs above 140 is 0.00000459328 (or 1 in 217709).
Out of equal-sized populations of whites and blacks, we would expect to find 2057 whites for each black in the above-IQ140 group. Of course, there are about five whites for each black in the population of the United States, so for each black US-resident having an IQ above 140, there should be about ten thousand US-resident whites having IQs above 140.
It really is that simple.
Apologies. The Greek letters and the unicode symbols in my presentation of the integral definition for the area under a normal distribution were not correctly rendered, with question marks being substituted for them. You can get the equation from Wikipedia, which is usually reliable for mathematical inquiries. (Not so much for inquiries about biology pertaining to racial differences, race-related politics, and such.)
Two books by top scientific researchers which crush the white supremacist nonsense :
https://astore.amazon.com/jonesmurphyshome/detail/0393314251
https://astore.amazon.com/jonesmurphyshome/detail/0691028982
There’s always nonsense being published by leftist academics. In reality, the racial gap in school grades, in standardized test scores, in career success, and in chess… all of them, mean exactly what they seem to mean. The excuses put forth by leftists are just that: excuses. Stereotype threat is psychobabble, not a real phenomenon. If poverty contributes to poor performance, it is a very minor contribution. Race makes a much larger one. The more you know about race differences, the more you realize that the far right is usually quite right.
Daaim Shabazz wrote:
“Those studies are what they are… raw numbers with no bearing on other factors that may contribute the gap. If you have 500 years of uninterrupted development with all the rights and privileges granted and supported by society, you will expect a decent level of prosperity.”
Society doesn’t sprout from the plains like the spring grass. It is what people make it.
For thousands of years, the races generally lived apart. Not entirely, but far more so than they do today. During all that time, each race had, over wide territories, ample opportunity to produce the kind of society that fit them best. Or try to.
The Africans didn’t do so well. The Asians and the whites did much better. And the reason for that is intelligence, mostly.
Now, for a while Europe was in a kind of religion-induced intellectual depression, during which it did not show its full potential. But prior to that time, it generally did. And after that time was done, it awoke once again to heights of achievement that the world had never previously seen.
Meanwhile, the Africans were killing each other in tribal wars by the hundreds of thousands year in and year out. Whites put a stop to some of that during their colonial expansions. Where whites colonized, they made life better – not worse – for the blacks living there. In fact, once word got around, the blacks came pouring into the lands that the whites settled, trying to get the goodies that the whites had made on that land for themselves. And most of the time the whites tried to be accommodating. During South Africa’s apartheid years, whites spent more of their tax money on the blacks than they did on themselves. The extent to which the African has risen above that warlike tribal society is due to the “meddling” of white people.
Indeed whites have occasionally, if not always by choice, handed over to blacks ready-made countries, complete with all of the lore and infrastructure that should have been needed for the blacks to just assume control of it all and keep it running like clockwork thenceforth. Of course, that’s not what actually happened. What happened, instead, was that what was once a prosperous nation became a pest-hole of poverty and crime.
And the reason that happens, mostly, is intelligence. Or, rather, the lack of a sufficient amount thereof.
So don’t expect to gain anything from your notion that blacks would excel in nation-building, or in chess, or in spaceflight, or in anything else, if whites would just leave them alone for 500 years. Whites are the Atlas holding up the black world, and if the whites shrug them off, the blacks will be again in a jungle, either aboreal or urban, within only a few years.
Daaim Shabazz wrote: “Honestly, what Black player has the time… or wherewithal to engage in an professional activity with such little financial return? Few Blacks I know.”
The condition of having limited resources and limited time is not restricted to blacks. You could control for this, and, if you did, I predict that a racial gap, to the favor of whites, in chess Elo ratings would nevertheless appear.
“It becomes a hobby that one has to subordinate to making a real living.”
True. But this isn’t a unique condition of blacks. It applies to everyone. Partly for reasons of an intelligence deficit, a higher percentage of blacks than whites are poor. But if you were to restrict your study to poor people who pursue chess, you’d still see the familiar distributed difference in Elo rating, as much there as you see in school grades, or scores on standardized tests, among whites and blacks who attend the same schools.
“The Blacks who have made GM, nevertheless and all have met all the requirements. None were given the title based on any affirmative action… It is a FIDE regulation that applies to all regions. Being “barely qualified” makes absolutely no sense. If you are 2535 ELO you are not a barely qualified GM; you simply are a GM. If you are a 2490 GM and have met requirements of FIDE of the GM title, you are not barely qualified; you are a GM… whether we like it or not. It does apply to ALL players.”
Ah. If you are correct about that, then you do have a point. It might not be the most important of the points that can be made, but it is a noteworthy one. I’ve been proceeding under the assumption that Wikipedia’s article on FIDE title qualifications is correct. It gives the impression that FIDE titles are more firmly connected to the Elo rating than you’ve asserted.
If you are correct, then titles don’t mean nearly as much as people think that they do. The Elo rating is a sensible safeguard against corruption in title award, which otherwise might be covertly bought or acquired through cheating (e.g. paying your opponent to lose) or acquired through the “big fish in a small pond” mechanism or by an atypically fortunate result in a single game. One does not like to think that the World Chess Federation would make itself easy prey for such undue influence. But, as I hope that I’ve illustrated, what “one does not like to think” can, sometimes, be true anyway.
“Again… I am not a proponent of this [one-shot titles], but the point is that exceptions are not being made for African players as you assert.”
What I see as I look around is (mostly) blacks getting more recognition, including titles, than their actual skills as measured by their Elo rating would justify. Maybe there are whites who also have taken advantage of irregular and ad hoc routes for titles, but I haven’t found as many of them. Indeed, I’ve found the opposite with regard to white players.
Contrast Phiona Mutesi, Elo rating 1622, and current holder of the FIDE WCM title that usually requires a minimum Elo of 2000, with Nicholas Checa, Elo rating 2422, current holder of the FIDE title of FIDE Master, although his Elo rating makes him qualified for the title next higher up: International Master. I do admit that I need to look around more, but I’ve taken first light, and this is the kind of thing that I’ve seen so far.
Mr. Sims, Nona Gaprindashvili reached a highest world Elo rating of 2495 in July 1987. The only occasion she rose higher than that was her rating within specific chess competitions, where she was once at 2510.
Mr. Shabazz, Pontus Carlsson has a current Elo rating of 2436. Although it isn’t hard to believe that he has had an Elo rating above 2500 at some time, could you tell us when it happened?
Black chess GMs do have low Elo ratings for chess grandmasters. And most of what Sims said on that subject is true, including that no black player has ever won a medal in any Chess Olympiad, going all the way back to the 1920s. It is certainly possible that a black shortfall in mental ability is to blame for that, rather than economic conditions.
Moreover, you (Shabazz) have been comparing the best of the black grandmasters with the least of the white grandmasters, as if you were proving some sort of point about intellectual equality between the races. That’s dishonest. You should compare the best of each race, and then their relative strengths become clear.
Mr. Shabazz, I agree that Phiona Mutesi’s struggle to gain an Elo rating of 1622 is commendable and that it shows devotion to the game. But Phiona isn’t the only person from a poor background to play chess at least as well as she does. Regardless of someone’s origins, an Elo rating of 1622 is the strength of an average player in local chess club. Phiona should be respected for playing the game as well as she can, but she’s getting a much greater dose of props and celebrity status than her real skill merits. The world’s “average player,” after all, is merely an average player, and Phiona is only a little better than that. I think that FIDE reached too far down in order to give the Woman Candidate Master title to Phiona. When standards for recognition get broken that badly, the recognition itself becomes meaningless.
I believe that this was the source of Sims’ information on FIDE titles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE_titles
“Mutesi grew up in the Ugandan slum of Katwe. When she was about three, her father died of AIDS and shortly afterwards her older sister Juliet died of an unknown cause. When Mutesi was about nine, and had already dropped out of school because her family could not afford to send her there…”<–only sadistic monster would compare this extremely challenged person to the average person in the world today.
“For thousands of years, the races generally lived apart. Not entirely, but far more so than they do today. During all that time, each race had, over wide territories, ample opportunity to produce the kind of society that fit them best. Or try to. The Africans didn’t do so well. The Asians and the whites did much better. And the reason for that is intelligence, mostly.” — David Sims
It’s no accident that much of modern white racist belief is based on the myth that sub-Saharan Africans never produced high civilizations. The European conquerors of sub-Saharan Africa tried to bury its history precisely to establish this ideology. It’s been thoroughly exposed, but they still don’t know. It should even be common knowledge by now that the wealthiest man in history (by historian concensus) was a Sub-Saharan African. And he held this wealth at the same time that Europe was in the throws of the bubonic plague.
Their beliefs are also predicated upon the idea that achievement belongs to a race. This is another myth. Achievements belongs to localities and then they spread it to others. The cradle of European civilization is its southern coast. Northern Europe had nothing to contribute for centuries. It would be just as valid to argue that dark-haired, dark-eyed southern Europeans were simply more intelligent
What a load of Apologist BS.
We all know the reason is IQ.
We find in chess just what 100 Years of IQ tests say, and would predict.
There’s no more barrier, financial or otherwise, than there is to become a Football/basketball/track star. If someone can run fast, they find em.
If someone can play chess.. they find em. There have been some black ‘prodigies,’ they just couldn’t get that far.
ie, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phiona_Mutesi
In Int’l competition tho, she’s chopped meat.
OTOH, African Runners get found, and Can not only compete, but win easily.
IQ tests say Ashkenazi Jews are on top, and guess what?
The TINY population of that descent (1/4 of 1% of world pop) have made up 50% World Chess Champions.
Culture-wise, the vast majority of those Champs are/were in the SAME class as other Russians who vastly outnumber them.
YET…
“”You don’t have a clue. IQ is not a predictor of one’s chess excellence… and being good in chess does not mean you have a IQ or are “smart.” It simply means you’re good at chess. I don’t care what those hack researchers have told you.””
Of course it IS. Chess is all about abstract thinking and problem solving.
ie
https://www.thechessworld.com/images/stories/chess-iq.jpg
and of course, I gave you a Real World Actual example which was UNTOUCHED: Ashkenazi Jews impossible-otherwise Triumphs in Chess. ANSWER?
NONE.
And of course the Lack/under-representation of Blacks. AGAIN, Just what IQ tests would predict.
And I love Your anti-intellectual and Goofy Denialism…
“”I don’t care what researchers have told you””
IOW, I should believe what YOU told me with NO evidence, as opposed to my post which Does have it.
We got plenty, in fact, a majority, of Black Running talent, BUT….
The linking between race and intelligence has been a subject of debate going back many years and it will continue to be a vague issue for many more years. Nothing will help change the mind of the nominal racist folks who feel that no matter what sum of convincing evidence is put in front of them, they cannot come to a logical conclusion because they believe that they are intellectually superior to blacks. And trying to reason with folks like that is simply a waste of time. I wonder if there has ever been a study where they take a group of black chess “prodigies” and a group of white” prodigies “and give them the same resources, training, tournament exposure, etc. and see if there’s any significant difference in their Elo rating after say 4 years. I would not be surprised to find out that the result didn’t displayed any substantial difference between the two groups. IMO, noticeable talent has nothing to do with the color of one’s skin, it’s simply a matter of being blessed with the gift of creativity; you either have it or you don’t.
If this website was mentioned in a previous post, I apologize. In it, chess expert Ronald Jones of DC hits the nail so squarely on the head that I bust out laughing. Quote:
“Most of the people that play, they have disposable income. They can afford to spend $300 for a tournament, $500 for a hotel, another $1000 for an airline ticket to another state.” Jones, who frequents Dupont Circle, a well-known place to find a street game in Washington, added, “That’s why we play in the park.”
Chess master Jerald Times of New York also believes that grandmaster is more an economic measurement than an intellectual one. It holds a lot of weight. For many African Americans on the lower economic rung, if it’s Monday, their primary purpose is to make it -to Tuesday. I would agree with anyone that its more feasible to get strong in this day and age with computers and technology, but the ability to travel, hotel costs, entry fees, etc. makes it difficult. Heck, I once slept in a hotel staircase with my duffle bag as a pillow, hoping I wouldn’t get caught by security so I could play the final two rounds of a tourney.
The website link is:
https://worldchess.com/2015/12/15/the-racial-gap-for-titles-among-american-players/
I completely agree with you putting a stop in permitting aliens who wants to continue with destructive racial stereotypes to get their voices heard here. The discussion about a small group of Jewish people with high IQ does not belong here. (IQ- test is not something I personally give much weight to) .This is a website dedicated to highlighting what’s happening in chess with an emphasis on what the black players are up to. Let’s continue to keep it positive and keep moving forward! If we had the financial means and those with talents were given the opportunity that whites or Asians talent have been given, we might have exceeded them. FACTS-We always have to be 3x better to even be considered, so be it.