ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CITY
Chess in NYC
Chess is filled with an abundance of talent, skill and competition. People involved with chess either do it for fun , to find what their good at or their just competition and love the thrill of winning against their opponents. Whatever the reason is chess can offer many things that requires you to push yourself out of your comfort zone to achieve. Such as in this picture where a grandmaster named Maurice Ashley plays a trash talker and defeats him at his own game.
London 1851 chess tournament
Although chess has been around since the 15th century, competitive chess was not introduced until the late 1800s. The first international chess tournament was held in London 1851. This tournament was the beginning of what will then competitive chess this became the standard form of chess competition among serious players. This showed us that there were players who were way ahead of their own time when it came to skill. During the London chess tournament Anderssen Adolf easily won the almost all his games and was in 1st place with a 5.5 point lead from the 2nd place player which is something you would never seen in today's standard of chess playing. Andersson won both the London international tournament and the London chess club tournament earning him the title of best player in Europe. He was considered to be one of the best player who leaded chess to become more competitive by conquering the 1850s - 1860s. The London 1851 tournament was hosted in the Great Exhibition which was an exhibition that introduced culture and industries that became popular in the 19th century a event that everyone wanted to see. This was the one and only time the tournament was hosted in this exhibit since it was only opened for 5 months before being closed which makes it an important place for it making competitive chess what is it today.
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I.S. 318 Chess Team
I.S. 318 is what we call the best middle school chess team in New York , best middle school chess team in the united states best chess team to have ever existed of it's time. 318 is a school that is from New York in Brooklyn and they are known as the best chess team to have ever existed as of the 21st century. As of 2017 I.S. 318 have won the most tournaments and nations in the history of chess. They have also developed amazing chess players who have become grand masters at the age of 13. I was unlucky enough to have been playing chess in the age of I.S. 318 which led them to become the powerhouse of a school they are now.
I.S. 318 is known for making kids into masters one notable achievement was made by a girl and a friend of mine named Rochelle Ballantyne who became the first female African american master which is an amazing accomplished that she was able to achieve. She was able to show that even though chess is mainly a male dominant sport even girls can overcome the hardship and take down even the best of men by using technique and reading your opponent and Rochelle does just that. They say that any player who tries and studies for chess can reach a rating of 1600 but trying to get anywhere higher requires skill and talent which is Rochelle has which gave her the ability to reach a rating of 2000 and achieving what no other woman of her race had reached.
These 3 kids are what you will call the prodigies and the 3 Angels of I.S. 318 but don't be mistaken I.S. 318 has a lot of amazing players in their chess team that also have high ratings better than most players out there, but these 3 are a step above the rest from left to right James Black Jr. , Justus Williams and Joshua Colas. These 3 kids are the youngest African american to become masters by the age of 12-13 this was even acknowledged by Maurice Ashley who became the first black African american grand master by the age of 33 years old. He is the man in the earlier picture who beat a trash talker at their own game yes he is the first yet he believes these kids are above the rest becoming a master at such a young age. With James Black Jr. become a master at 12 becoming the youngest African american master , Justus Williams at 13 years and Joshua Colas at 13 years old. These kids show us that African american kids can excel at a game such as chess that is usually not popular in the African american community.
The first person I will talk about is a friend of mine named Justus Williams he is the first of the 3 guys to become a master at the age of 13 years old. I have known Justus since I was in 4th grade he was in 3rd grade he went to a school called Ps. 70 where he actually started playing chess. When I was first introduced to Justus it was during a chess competition I was faced against him and I came out victorious of the two and we became friends. two years later when he is in 5th grade he has already reached 1500 in such a short time it was puzzling on how he had advanced so quickly. I later found out that he decided to take chess seriously and his mother decided to pay for personal chess tutors and he would spend his days studying chess tactics and he quickly advanced up in the rankings winning championships , major cups and open section as if it had come easy to him. After 5th grade he decided to go to I.S. 318 where his rating later sky rocketed to 2000 and it was a bright future for him.
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The second person I will talk about is someone I know and have had a few encounters with his name is Joshua Colas he was the 2nd player of the 3 to reach master also at the age of 13 years old but a few months before Justus which made him the youngest African american master before James Black Jr. came and took it. Joshua Colas is what they called a python. He was the type of person that will analyze his opponent and wait for the right moment to attack. I have played against him a few times and I have never won a game against him whenever I play him our games usually end up becoming a blitz game due to how long it takes him to make a move. He is a player who will think and take their time on every single move they make even if it's a simple move. He has been playing competitive chess since he was 5 years old joining world cups at the age of 7 and willing against men 3-6 times his age at the age of 10 years old the kid is considered a prodigy on par with Justus and James and as of 2017 he is currently the highest rating player of the three.
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Now for the third person I will talk about is none other then James Black Jr. who is currently the youngest African american master at the age of 12 years old. James Black Jr. is another friend of mine similar to Justus I have met both of them in tournaments and our chess teams have collaborate with each other and also we have played on the same team since we all played for the New York team when we entered high school. James Black Jr. is the player I have the most trouble with out of the three due to his play style unlike Joshua Colas he is an aggressive and fast player who always makes u end up playing at his place which let's him have control of the game and the advantage. He learned to play chess because of his dad who played with him when he was a kid until a few weeks later he ended up defeating his father easily and decided to take chess seriously and joined his school chess team unlike the others he easily excelled at chess without practicing as much it wasn't until he was near 1600+ where he started taking chess seriously and started practicing with personal coaches and studying at home he is currently rated 2191 slightly lower than both Justus and Joshua but he is still an exception player.
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Washington Square Park
Washington Square Park is what was known as an amazing chess community for the public this was the location where a lot of chess players from around the world would go visit just so they can play chess with random people. Famous chess players like Bobby Fischer used to play in this park when he was kid also Maurice Ashley played in this park. Even the #1 chess player in the world Magnus Carlsen had played in the famous washing square park. It was home to where a lot of old players would just sit down gather up and wait for random people to approach them to have a game. It slowly became a trend that everyone has soon got used to so whenever they go to Washington square park they know there will be someone there ready to play chess. But the old washing square park that had used to hold many chess players playing all the time has soon changed lately now in 2016 to be exact the park is not as active as it used to be if you were to go to the park now you would see maybe 1 to 3 people actually playing chess unlike back then. The chess players that used to be in Washington square park have moved to places like Union Square where they can instead play chess and have fun like they used to. They now play to make money off of it and try their best to get as far as they can without really enjoying themselves which eventually just made Washington square park not really needed and not as populated as it used to be.
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Citation
“Grandmaster Maurice Ashley Plays NYC Trash Talker - The Tim Ferriss Experiment.” YouTube, YouTube, 16 Feb. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5vnpOp0U_g.
Leaders by Example.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Nov. 2011, www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/crosswords/chess/chess-three-young-african-americans-earn-recognition-as-masters.html.
“London 1851 Chess Tournament.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Nov. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_1851_chess_tournament
“The Great Exhibition.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Dec. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Exhibition.
Leaders by Example.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Nov. 2011, www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/crosswords/chess/chess-three-young-african-americans-earn-recognition-as-masters.html.
“London 1851 Chess Tournament.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Nov. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_1851_chess_tournament
“The Great Exhibition.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Dec. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Exhibition.