The source of Cowboys wide receiver Amari Cooper's deception: chess
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“It starts with the imagination. If you have something in your head and you’re saying, ‘OK, this is what I’m going to do.’ You have to be creative.”
Heading into his seventh NFL season, his third in Dallas, Cooper starts 2020 fresh off his five-year contract extension with $60 million guaranteed. He’s ready to prove himself as an elite receiver, and, maybe less notably, as the Cowboys’ resident chess guru.
From his large, sunny kitchen outside of Dallas, Cooper, 26, lights up when talking about playing chess, and remembers exactly when the game first captivated him as an elementary school student in northwest Miami.
“My music teacher ran the chess club after school,” Cooper said. “But if we were done with our music lesson that day, he would teach us chess lessons.” The teacher encouraged Cooper to join the after-school chess club, but even from a young age, Cooper already was committed to another passion.
“I probably came after school one time [to chess club], because I was more interested in going to my after-school program, which is where we would play football.”
In the years that followed, graduating from Miami Northwestern Senior High School, three years as a standout receiver for the University of Alabama, declaring for the NFL draft following his junior season in 2015, Cooper hardly touched a pawn on the chessboard. But his initial interest in the game’s intricacies and deception never left his mind.
And in 2015, the desire to play chess was reignited.
Wide receiver Amari Cooper started all 16 games for the Cowboys last season, netting 79 receptions for 1,189 yards and eight touchdowns. Ric Tapia via AP Photo
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Awuzie and former Cowboys cornerback Donovan Olumba, now with the Browns, had just established their own chess rivalry when they invited Cooper to join. But with one stipulation: They had to play over a real chessboard, not on an app.
Olumba purchased the board at a discount store, according to a story in The Dallas Morning News. The round pieces in the set give it the appearance of checkers, with the exception of the designations on top: Labels that identify each piece as a pawn, king, queen, rook, bishop or knight.
“Donovan started playing [Cooper], and beat him the first time,” Awuzie said. “After that, he never beat him again, and he just sort of fell off.
“That’s when we really started playing together.”
While admittedly a less experienced chess player, Awuzie, like Cooper, relates his strategies in chess to his mentality on the field.
“As a defensive back, I’m more reactionary,” Awuzie said. “[Cooper] studies, does a bunch of stuff to get better at chess. I never did any of that. So, I see what he does and I try to find the best move to react to it.”
“Now,” he adds with a proud smirk, “I’m catching up to him.” As only a master of deception could, with a blank face, Cooper plays off his chess rival coolly.
“He’s a pretty good opponent. Sometimes he wins.”
Yet last season, Cooper posted to his Instagram story some simple text over a black background that read: “Don’t let Chido [Awuzie] fool ya’ll. He’s 21-5 overall against me in chess. Only time he wins is when I make it easy.”
The Cowboys have quarterback Dak Prescott playing on the franchise tag this season and wide receiver Amari Cooper signed to a five-year, $100 million deal. Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images
Cooper’s the knight
Cooper’s insatiable drive is triggered when facing any of his opponents, whether juking and sprinting past them on the field or staring at them, emotionless, while leaning over a chessboard.
Cooper’s endgame is with himself as he strives to become a grandmaster of all pursuits.
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