The Art of Excellence

Maurice Ashley is a Chess Grandmaster, a chess commentator, a national championship coach, and an author. In 1999 he earned the title of Chess Grandmaster, making him the first African American Grandmaster in the game’s history, and was later inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame. His latest book is titled Move by Move: Life Lessons On and Off the Chessboard.

Some interesting insights from this episode:

· Going into any big moment, the best way to calm your nerves is to get into the right mindset which is that you can’t be better than yourself. Don’t focus on the results. Just focus on being yourself and the rest will take care of itself.

· He is able to play up to ten people simultaneously while blindfolded and win each game.

· It’s important to cultivate a beginner’s mind and approach the game as if you’re viewing it for the very first time. That way you’re open to seeing something new and having a fresh perspective.

· Upper echelon thinking is to keep growing every day. Today you need to be a little bit better than yesterday. Your only race is against yesterday’s self.

· Focus often dips when you’re ahead and your lowest concentration is often when you have the biggest advantage.

· To stay mentally sharp and focused over the course of a prolonged game, you have to learn to continually check yourself. You have to be your own barometer. Counting breaths also helps to calm down and stay in the moment.

· Retrograde analysis is envisioning a future state and then working backwards.

· When conducting post mortems it’s important to categorize your mistakes so you can become more self aware of the patterns behind the mistake and preempt their happening in the future.

Notes:

Book: Move by Move: Life Lessons On and Off the Chessboard

Personal website: Maurice Ashley