Maurice Ashley, First Black Chess Grandmaster, Uses The Game To Teach Life Skills In New Book

One historical chess Black player is using his platform to change lives.

Maurice Ashley, the first Black chess grandmaster in 1999, is using the game of chess to teach life lessons, according to CBS News.

It all started for Ashley when he was 14 when he was a high school student immigrating to the U.S. from Jamaica.

For him to achieve this status as the highest title in chess, Ashley said he needed to learn one important lesson: He said he needed to “To become, be.”

"To become you first have to be, and that means if you are always chasing a goal, you're thinking 'I have to this, this, this, so I can get there,' but you first have to be that person that can be successful. Whatever it is that you want to be in life," Ashley said.

The one piece of advice that he conveys to those who want to follow in his footsteps is the following:

"So you have to get in the mindset of the champion, the training that you need, the focus that you need, the kind of commitment that you need," he said. "When you get in that place where you're practicing as hard as you can and doing all those things necessary to master your craft, then when the time comes for you to take that test or to win that game, it will just happen. Don't worry about the results. Worry about the process."

What is the platform that Ashley uses to change lives? Ashley has a new book, Move by Move: Life Lessons on and off the Chessboard, which conveys real-life advice straight from the wisdom of chess.

Ashley said the most important thing is to have a beginner’s mindset.

"That's the beauty of the approach when you look at it from the viewpoint of a child, of a beginner, that there is so much to learn,” Ashley said. “Even those who master any sport, or any activity in business. You could be the biggest millionaire. You could be a Super Bowl winner. There's always stuff that you keep on learning."