Millionaire Chess – How it started

Aug. 26/13 (Lake George, NY) –  Maurice Ashley is the first African-American to receive the International Grandmaster title.   I met him in 2009 when I was on a Personal Growth Retreat in Lake George, New York.  Maurice was hired to teach us, the participants, how to play Chess for 5 days every summer during the Retreat.  Chess was one of the objectives included in the program that I registered for.  I remember being totally fascinated the first time I watched him play blind-folded chess against 5 of the best chess players in our group and of course, he won all 5.  I first had the chance to talk to him the first night he arrived at the camp site and found him very intelligent, knowledgeable, engaging and wise.  Realizing that we connect well with each other, we have stayed in touch ever since then and I would see him again on this lake for the next few summers.  But it was this summer that we really connected.

Today, we got into a 5-hour conversation about many of his projects.  Somehow his story about the “HB Chess Tournament” he hosted in 2005 for a $500K payout caught my attention.  This event is so far the highest payout for Open Chess Tournament in history.  Totally interested,  I kept on going back to that chess tournament in the middle of his other stories.  I continued to ask him more about it and the reasons it was conducted only one time.  From being interested to being inspired now, I proposed that we should do one for 7 digits because that would really create a WOW effect in the chess world which could lead to chess being brought mainstream.  While I was analysing why the sponsor for the last tournament failed financially, I came up with the idea of cancelling the event should we not have the minimum number of entries by a certain date so that I can put a cap to my maximum lost.  On top of this, I also proposed that we go in as partners instead of me hiring him like what HB did back in 2005.  I will take all the financial risk while he risks all the time he invests.  That seemed like a fair arrangement.  Obviously, we both feel strongly that this project is worth investing in.

We understand that the first tournament will totally depend on the registration fees of the players.  Only when it becomes mainstream will sponsors come in.  I am hoping chess fans around the world can share our vision and join our mission to create a new history for chess by supporting us even though our entry fee is higher than what people are used to because we will need those numbers in order to be able to pay out a million dollars.  Maurice found my proposal interesting.  Then 18 hours later, I went back to him with my long list of more questions and a budget forecast that I wanted him to go over with me.  That was probably the first time I shocked Maurice on my level of efficiency and enthusiasm.

Sept. 3/13 (back home from the Retreat) – It has really been such a long time since I was able to focus on doing something.  The days following the Retreat, I would wake up in the middle of the night to write down new thoughts and questions.  Enthusiastically, I would immediately email Maurice and other friends about them.  At this early stage, I already like the challenges that come with this project.  They remind me of the time that I bought my first lot on the west side back in 2004.  My uncle who was my realtor refused to put an offer for me because he thought it was too expensive, but I still insisted because I just believed that the market would go up because it was already announced that British Columbia won the hosting of Olympic 2010.  Thank God, I did.  Also, I had this similar feeling back in 1998 when I agreed to open the largest dollar store franchise in this city despite the fact that I had zero background in retail.  I learned along the way and totally succeeded in the end.

Like then, I don’t expect this chess tournament project to be easy but I am prepared to put in my time and energy to learn an industry that is brand new to me, one in which I have zero background.  That, to me is very challenging and it just motivates me to continue pursuing it regardless of how many negative feedback I have heard so far because I choose to believe in myself and my partner having the ability to make this successful.  I love the challenge of a  groundbreaking project!

I feel I have enough data now to back up my decision to move to the next phase. I feel the rewards far outweigh the risks.  I want to leave a legacy for my kids and grand-kids to be proud of.  I want them to know I was part of the team that took chess mainstream in the digital age!

 

Sept. 19/13 – I didn’t realize how passionate I am about the Chess Tournament until after I talked about it with Eric during our Mid-Autumn Festival dinner at Neptune tonight.  Other than Maurice and Alex, it feels like Eric is the only person so far that actually believes that this project will succeed.  I know no one will put their money on the success of this project at this time but I am really grateful for the feedback of the skeptic in my inner circle because they keep me grounded and challenged.

 

Oct.  3/13 – We just conducted a survey to get the perception of chess players about their willingness to pay higher entry fee for the highest stake payout in history.  However, we worded the questionnaire in a way that it didn’t reveal so much about our plans because we didn’t want competitors to get wind of them.  Hence, we didn’t give enough details to the respondents to consider what we would have wanted them to consider.  And thus, we didn’t get the information that we wanted.

And now, having unsubstantial information, we are faced with only 3 options:  A) go ahead despite this result, B) stop altogether or C) to conduct another survey.

Personally, I made the decision to go with option A.  The decision came in the middle of the night while I was in the Paris Hotel in Vegas during my 3300 km road trip with Neil.  At 2:22am, I told myself,  “Vegas, I will be back with my partners celebrating our success a year from now!!! Together, we will prove all those that have doubted us while giving those we love many reasons to feel proud that we have ‘revolutionized chess.’  Most importantly, we will celebrate the great friendship among our team members.” And of course our self esteem will have increased dramatically due to the effort we put in that has led to our success!

The team was obviously happy with my decision.  Everyone’s enthusiasm heightened once we made our official decision to move forward.

 

Dec. 7/13 (Vegas) – We came here to finalize the venue for the MC.  I felt kind of sad and disappointed after I found out only now about the many extra cost we didn’t budget for because the event is being held in a hotel here. I felt disheartened and had a cold feet for the first time even though I believe that this will be a good business after we survive year one.

After a long meeting with Maurice, we decided that we still want to go ahead with the project until the cut off date of April 1/14.  By this time, we will already know whether we are going to proceed or cancel altogether.   I have learned a lot ever since we decided to do MC two months ago.  The knowledge and the experience have been so valuable.

I am still confident that we will still be able to make this event a success.  I tell myself this is just another challenge to test us!  No one ever promised us that success will come easy to begin with.  Anyway…

On the positive side – I am very happy that the relationship among us has deepened very much over this weekend.  I feel very grateful to have Maurice as my business partner and as my friend for life.

 

Jan. 23/14 – MillionaireChess.com launched on 11/12/13 (Dec. 11/13).  Within 16 hours, it crashed due to the traffic.  We budgeted 20,000 visitors per month but we reached this number within 16 hours causing the site to crash for 20 minutes.  For the next 6 weeks, I was only able to sleep 3-4 hours a night.  I would wake up in the middle of the night reading every single piece of chess article online along with all the social media that are talking about chess and/or MC.   I told myself  that I needed to learn everything I could within the shortest amount of time since I knew nothing about chess.  I even started losing lots of hair due to my stress level.  I’d say I have 20% less hair now but thankfully I had lots to begin with.  I’d already booked an appointment to see a hair specialist because it’s important to not lose any more because I don’t think I look good bald.

We faced one challenge after another.  But we never thought about giving up this BOLD mission of ours.  We are constantly coming up with new ideas and concepts to overcome the challenges we have and those that we are to still confront as we move along.  I am very proud of our team!  I have learned so much about the chess world over the last 3 months.

 

Feb. 3/14 – I feel very overwhelmed with the number of messages I have been receiving from Chess fans around the world thanking me to be part of the team to attempt to create another history for chess.  I truly appreciate their recognition.  I feel like I am part of the chess world now.

MC hasn’t been smooth sailing so far but I feel very motivated to do whatever it takes to move forward with this project.  I am determined to give it 110% of what I have to give.  My mission is to make MC a repeated event and my vision is to take it global over the next 3 years!

Feb. 12/14 – After a great evening talking to my BFF, Kam, I woke up this morning feeling very sure of my decision to exercise Option E for MC.   I feel very grateful for having Kam in my life over the last 19 years.  He has always been there with me to support and to guide me through every big milestone of mine since I was 25 years old.  As always, he knows me better then I know me.  I love how he will always simplify and help me customize questions to ask myself so I can come up with my own final decisions.