Jeffrey Ashton's Blog: 05/14/15

Our photographer sent us a few, and will send us more within the next week or two.

About Me

My name is Jeffrey Ashton. I have been coaching chess in Houston since 2003, and I opened the Panda Chess Academy a few years later. Before I moved to Houston, I was coaching chess in Dallas.

I grew up in Ann Arbor Michigan. I learned how to play chess in 4th grade, and I got more serious about it in middle-school, then really focused in High School. I received the title of "Master" after my 70th tournament, Junior year in High School.

I attended the University of Texas at Dallas on chess scholarship (and that's why I moved to Texas). At the time, I thought that chess scholarships didn't exist, and it didn't seem like a "real thing." Maybe about 10 people before me have received college scholarships for playing chess (in the United States). The University of Maryland in Baltimore County and University of Texas at Dallas were the only two that I knew of (and I only knew it because the recruiters told me). Since then, thousands of college students have received chess scholarships because many more colleges offer scholarships for being good at chess (but you also have to have good high school grades!).

I played really well while playing college chess, mainly because I didn't want to be the guy that messes things up for the team. Also I was really grateful that Dr. Tim Redman (former USCF President, and the creator of the UTD Chess Scholarship program) selected me to receive a scholarship. I think I won my first 10 games in a row, and I lost only a few games in college team competition.

After graduating, I was offered opportunities to coach chess in a few schools in Houston. A couple years later, I opened up the Panda Chess Academy. I wanted to create a full-time chess academy and club for scholastic players. As far as I knew, there has been many full-time chess clubs but never one for kids only. In the last 8 years, the academy grew quickly. We had to move to larger locations twice. I'm very grateful to all of those who helped it grow.

Lately I've been spending most of my time organizing chess events (tournaments at the Panda Chess Academy) and getting involved with interesting chess-related projects.

My favorite thing to do is teach chess. Running tournaments is very hard work but rewarding. Teaching chess doesn't really feel like work. Since I moved to Houston, I have coached 7 days a week. I don't really take many breaks because I like my "job." I do take a couple weekends off per semester. I teach mainly private and group classes, and I do my best when working with players who compete in tournaments regularly. I coach school chess teams, and I coach the Katy Scholastic Chess Club. I also coach private students and group classes at the Panda Chess Academy.

Outside of chess, I really like to read, watch sports, and lift weights. As a kid/teenager, I loved to play sports (basketball, baseball, football, and a little tennis). My mom made me do Tae Kwon Do (she is Korean) and play piano. I was always interested in chess while I was busy doing other things, but I really committed to chess in high school. I was trying to make the wrestling team, and while participating in what was basically a "Royal Rumble," I broke my collar bone. So for about a month I was kind of injured, so I got to play more chess.

With sports, I couldn't find one that I really wanted to focus on. I just enjoyed playing and watching them all. With piano and Tae Kwon Do, I never realized that I enjoyed them until later. With chess, I really enjoyed playing, but I also found it easy to focus on the game because one can study or practice at any hour. So I just decided to stick with chess (and I still had to do Tae Kwon Do and piano). People are very supportive of chess. I never got in trouble for playing/studying too much chess. I loved to travel to different states and countries for tournaments. I made a lot of friends all around the world that I still keep in touch with. I still talk to my old coaches regularly (I had great coaches!).

As I write this, some of my students (since moving to Houston) are graduating college. A lot of my old students come to visit me and help out with tournaments and camps. At first, I just assumed that their parents were making them do it. But now I realize that maybe they miss chess. The great thing about chess is you can quit playing for 4 years (because you are busy STUDYING in college) then come back and pick up where you left off. Often the player is better because they are older and wiser (life experience defeats rust apparently).

I really appreciate all of the students and parents that I have met over the years. My biggest regret is that I usually see people when I'm most busy, or I am distracted because I know things are about to get very busy. So I have missed a lot of chances to have great conversations over the years. I also feel bad for coming off as rude. When I have time, I love to chat, and I always try my best to get back to emails.

Jeffrey Ashton's Blog

Thursday, May 14, 2015

A few photos