Pontus Carlsson has been competing in chess matches since age 5 and he is currently a chess Grandmaster. His improbable journey to chess stardom started in 1985 when as a toddler he was adopted from an orphanage in Cali, Colombia, South America by Ingvar Carlsson, … Read MorePontus Carlsson (1982- )
Maurice Ashley, the first African American chess grandmaster, was born in St. Andrew, Jamaica on March 6, 1966. At age 12, his family moved to Brooklyn, New York, where Ashley began to develop an interest in chess. Although he spent several hours a day playing … Read MoreMaurice Ashley (1966- )
Theophilus Augustus Thompson was one of the first notable African American chess players. Thompson was born into slavery in Frederick, Maryland on April 21, 1855. Freed after the Civil War, he worked as a house servant in Carroll County, Maryland from 1868 to 1870. Returning … Read MoreTheophilus Thompson (1855-?)
