Kings and Queens: On the Chessboard, and in Life
By Ashahed M. Muhammad -Asst. Editor-
Updated Jul 8, 2013 – 11:01:18 AM
ST. LOUIS (FinalCall.com) – Twelve year old Diamond Shakoor is a nine-time national chess champion. She has played in 240 chess tournaments around the United States of America and has been playing since she was 7 years old.
When many youngsters her age were playing with dolls, she was picking up chess pieces. Inspired by her father and coach, Lamont Shakoor, Diamond says playing the game teaches her a lot about life because it is a game in which you have to make choices. She told The Final Call she knew it was something she enjoyed more than a simple hobby when she was eight.
“I really realized that when I was 8, I won my first national title. I was the first African American at the age of 8 to win a whole national chess tournament. I played others my age, now I play all ages, and I win the majority of my matches,” said Ms. Shakoor.
Although she wins most of the time, when she loses, it is because she beats herself and when she loses, she learns.
“When you lose, it teaches you. When you’re winning you’re just winning, but when you’re losing like—you’re really actually learning something and you’re getting better and better,” she said.
Being such a young and successful chess player, in order to maintain her competitive edge, she certainly has secrets that she will not divulge, but she says one key to her success is preparation and having a strategy.
“I really love reading chess books and also being active on the chess board,” said Ms. Shakoor. “What I like best is how it’s an army and all the pieces stay together and they work together and that’s like what the world is trying to be except the world is not on that board now,” she said.
Ms. Shakoor has the goal of becoming in chess what is called a “Grand Master” which is the highest level and reaching a rating of 3,000.
“I want to reach a rating of 3,000—the first African-American female to reach 3,000. I know it’s probably going to be impossible, but not until I do it,” she said.
Her father, an avid chess player, told The Final Call what went into his thinking as he routed his daughter in the direction of become a skilled chess player. As a single father with full custody of his daughter, he noticed that she was beginning to get in trouble in school. He added that being born in Flint, Michigan, he saw that environment could lead her to become one who was “street savvy” and steeped in “street knowledge.”
“I was trying to find some way to harness that and to use it in a positive environment, and she was getting in trouble in school. So I said if you can focus better in school then I’ll go ahead and teach you this game of chess. So she started doing better in school and applying herself,” said Mr. Shakoor. “I’ve been teaching youth for about 18 years and I didn’t have a child then so once I had a daughter of age who wanted to learn it was a perfect fit.”
Sometimes, when people see mothers or fathers heavily involved in their children’s lives, they are referred to as “helicopter parents” always hovering around their children. Often, parents are living out their unfulfilled dreams and desires through the lives of their children. Sometimes, their children reject that overbearing presence. Mr. Shakoor was honest saying he has been that way at times, but strives to keep his presence and involvement in the proper perspective.
“At times I have been like that but then Diamond lets me know or circumstances or environment or divine intervention lets me know ‘you need to ease up and you need to have balance’ because it’s really not about you, it’s about preparing her for the future so that’s what it’s really about. I’m just a vehicle, a vessel, a facilitator to make sure that she does whatever calling it is that God has for her assignment,” said Mr. Shakoor.
Mr. Shakoor said the first time his daughter won a major tournament and defeated her opponent and proved the hard work and sacrifice paid off, he was stunned.
“I was in shock,” said Mr. Shakoor. “I knew that God, the Most High, had a calling on her life and I knew that this was just the beginning. I was in shock and I knew that it was bigger than chess but I knew that chess was going to be her platform—it may not be her purpose but one of her major platforms.”
He said teaching his daughter chess, and being her coach has really helped them to have a very special relationship, one in which he easily transitions from being coach to father.
“I have to wear different hats. Sometimes I’m dad, sometimes I’m coach, sometimes I’m just a chess friend so I have to gauge the situation. If she’s had a long match two or three hours and just lost she doesn’t want dad going, ‘hey you missed this move on move 17.’ No. It’s time to give her tender loving care. Then it’s ‘let’s go get ice cream or let’s go watch a movie, let’s go do something else.’ So it’s about balance and really enjoying it.”
Although father is the coach, he says Diamond has become a formidable opponent—even for him—on the chess board when they square off.
“If she’s focused she wins,” said Mr. Shakoor. “We were playing and she beat me once and I said ‘let’s play again.’ She beat me three times in a row when she was 7-1/2 or 8 years old. I knew something was happening at that point.”
He said he would like to see more Black youth involved in chess, but realizes cost can be a barrier. Paying for travel, training, and hotels can be financially challenging. Mr. Shakoor says it disturbs him, and he is working on solutions, one of those being the establishment Urban Kings & Queens Chess Learning Center.
“If a child has talent then social economic factors should not stop that child from tapping into their genius,” he said.
A child has to be treated like a champion in order to become a champion.
“You have to make sure you feed them like a champion, you have to make sure they get their proper rest, their nourishment,” said Mr. Shakoor. “It’s a formula. You just can’t get on the board and read a couple of books and move some pieces. It’s really a formula and we’ve been blessed to tap into that formula and we want to share it with other youth around the nation.”
Source: http://www.finalcall.com
Congrats!