An Attacking Strategy with Chess Grandmaster Maurice Ashley

2021-10-17

This episode of Hacker Valley Studio podcast’s Hacker Valley Red Series features guest Maurice Ashley, a chess grandmaster and author of Chess for Success. Maurice is a chess guru and has been playing it ever since his high school years. He is currently involved in commentating for chess events, teaching chess, and training national chess champions. In this episode, Maurice and the hosts talk about Maurice’s chess journey along with some parallels between chess and cyber security. The hosts, Ron and Chris, start off the interview by poi...

This episode of Hacker Valley Studio podcast’s Hacker Valley Red Series features guest Maurice Ashley, a chess grandmaster and author of Chess for Success. Maurice is a chess guru and has been playing it ever since his high school years. He is currently involved in commentating for chess events, teaching chess, and training national chess champions. In this episode, Maurice and the hosts talk about Maurice’s chess journey along with some parallels between chess and cyber security.

The hosts, Ron and Chris, start off the interview by pointing out one parallel between chess and cybersecurity: the art of training. Maurice responds by sharing about the rigorous training of chess, and of the different strategies and techniques that must be learned. He also takes some time to explain his own journey with training in chess and how it progressed through the years. In high school, he started playing with his brother, and then moved to playing in more formal settings with more challenging opponents. This eventually led to earning the title of chess grandmaster. Being the first black male to receive the Chess Grandmaster title, Maurice speaks on how this accomplishment inspired others to reach for their goals.

2:49 - Maurice introduces himself

6:46 - Maurice’s journey of becoming a grandmaster

9:20 - The impact of Exposure

11:07 - Maurice tells of the significance of being the first black male to earn the title of Chess Grandmaster.

15:00 - Maurice tells of the influence of his family in earning the title of Chess Grandmaster.

17:58 - Maurice speaks on practicing for performance and how it relates to cyber security.

22:00 -The parallels between an unbeatable chess player and an unhackable system

25:18 - Maurice explains blitz and bullet chess and how it relates to cyber security.

33:25 - Maurice gives some tips on how to get started playing chess.

37:04 - Maurice gives advice on how to reach greatness.

Links:

To learn more about Maurice Ashley, visit https://mauriceashley.com