Is this an intelligence issue ?

[Muadib]

Grandmaster Ashley, who turned 41 in March of this year, is the first International Grandmaster to participate in a local chess tournament. He learned to play chess when he was about eight years old while living in Jamaica. He started high school at Wolmer's Boys, but left Jamaica at about 12 years of age and went to live in the United States of America where his passion for chess developed. Ashley rose to the highest chess level of International Grandmaster in 1999 and in the process became the first and until this year, the only person of African-descent to do so.

[Truthsayer]

Grandmaster Ashley, who turned 41 in March of this year, is the first International Grandmaster to participate in a local chess tournament. He learned to play chess when he was about eight years old while living in Jamaica. He started high school at Wolmer's Boys, but left Jamaica at about 12 years of age and went to live in the United States of America where his passion for chess developed. Ashley rose to the highest chess level of International Grandmaster in 1999 and in the process became the first and until this year, the only person of African-descent to do so.

Fiya bun pon de KKK agent provocateur. Mi nuh bizniz if nuhbaddy else yahso willing fi deal wid yuh bullsh_t proppa but mi deh ya fi bun more fiya pon yuh , yuh fu_king assho_e.

More fiya fi yuh bwoy.

[Muadib]

Very intelligent response.

What yuh need to do is try and address the issue.

A very intereresting statistic. I would have thought it would be higher given our 'individual' achievements.

[Seuss]

I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter.

[Jawge]

What astounds me is that Ashley was
never give recognition for his achievement in Ja. I see they brought a guy from England and made big fuss about him in the media.

[Seuss]

Do these words sound familir ' ... A good man is never honored in his own country ...'

Using Bob as an example, I think when we live in Jamaica we often do not recognize the amount of competition or challenges these individuals face on the world stage to achieve what they have. So we tend not to recognize the achievement the same way others do who are more exposed to the international level.

[Jawge]

Suppose yuh see who dem did
haff inna di paper? So far Ashley is doing fine (and many other Jakans here) Colin Powell was too obvious and out of their league, hence they had to recognize.

[Muadib]

I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Thought we would have emerged sooner.

I was actually surprised by the fact.

As you intimate however, there might be a recognition element to it.

[Seuss]

Also cultural. You would be surprised how limited the exposure to the game in certain quarters. But once that exposure occurs then you see a very different picture emerge. When I lived in NYC it was not a rare sight to walk thru certain parks an see many blacks - kids and adults - playing chess.

It takes a very special person to stay on an island and acquire a world view.

[Seuss]

What ticks me off is they have him as African AMERICAN.

[Jawge]

Yuh blame him? di man ah get
mucho respek fram merica whilst Ja ah carry a english man an ah big him up. Nuff Jakan command some serious respek inna merica wha dem wouldn't even smell ah yaad. so di ting set boss. Is long time Colin Powell did ah bubble (check jet magazine) Yuh tink dem did bizniz wid him?

The truth: the plantation masters do not want Jakans abroad to return home (for obvious reasons) so they manipulate their bastard children and the ones that work in the great house not to be receptive tto those abroad (hence you have this division again). It's very easy to do in Ja; because you have this East not liking west, town not liking country and the list goes on. when you check it out Ja is a small island with a population of 2.6 million. Amazing!

[Exile]

Exposure is the key. I am sure if more kids were exposed to the game we would have world beaters in the game...like anything else....very few people as competitive as Jamaicans. Inschool it was seen as a game for nerds.
Didn't quite get your last statement...a world view of what?

[Willi]

Speak for yourself!
During my time at StGC, chess was a big thing. We had the island's number 1 player at the time and so won all school competitions. It was a Chinese fellow, cant recall his name now.

I once saw him line up ten opponents at school and beat 9 of them in 5 minutes then it took him another 5 minutes to beat the 10th one. That kind of intimidating experience kept me away from the game. LoL

[Exile]

OK...so you didn't consider yourself a nerd back then....

[Willi]

Chess was not considered nerdy at school back then. Just that if you didnt have game, stay away from the embarassment! LoL