How a Pitt alum moved from chess board to board room

In four swift moves, the 4-year-old claims her first victory over her father in a game of chess. For Pittsburgh native Ashley Lynn Priore, the gifts and passion for the board game showed up early and they haven’t slowed down yet. 

Priore (A&S ’22) was a nationally ranked chess player for 10 years, often checkmating gender barriers in the male-dominated competitions. In 2014, as a teenager, she founded Queen’s Gambit, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit that uses free chess programing to teach life skills to children and teens. Last year, she established Queenside Ventures, a consulting firm using chess to brainstorm strategy for businesses, nonprofit organizations and even her beloved Pittsburgh Steelers. 

It was as a student at Pitt that she found supportive administrators and opportunities for chess-related outreach, giving her the confidence to introduce the game to the professional world. 

From hosting “Chess Fest,” Pittsburgh’s first chess festival, to holding board positions at local nonprofit organizations, Priore has taken a hands-on approach to promoting chess as a tool for self-discovery. 

Her latest venture is perhaps her most ambitious: to teach one million women how to play the game of chess and — in the process — the game of life. 

The goal is rooted in Project d4, an initiative launched by Priore that uses virtual and in-person sessions to teach fundamental game skills and leadership concepts, guiding women in decision making and problem-solving. The inspiration lays in the fact that only 1% of the top 100 chess players are women, an issue that Priore and her team are also tackling head-on by sharing their passion for the game.  

Chess has this “superpower to teach adaptability,” says Priore, it cuts across every discipline and field. Priore is using that power to help chess change lives.