An article from August headlined, "Why did NFL stars gather in June to play chess? It all began with Amari Cooper’s vision":
When Cooper first drove his Lamborghini into a suburban townhouse complex in 2020, a 14-year-old’s parents were wary.
Was a Cowboys player 12 years their son’s senior really just driving him to … the neighborhood Barnes & Noble for chess lessons?
Deviprasath, then a ninth grader on the verge of attaining chess’s expert “national master” rating, told his mother he was going to coach Cooper.
“So first she Googles him and tries to understand,” Deviprasath said. “She honestly wasn’t believing him. Like — how does this happen?”
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They met each Monday night for two to three hours at the Barnes & Noble near Deviprasath’s townhouse.
Four years later, lessons continue.
They’ve outlasted the Barnes & Noble, which closed in May 2023, and Cooper’s Cowboys tenure, which wrapped March 2022 when Dallas traded him to the Browns for a fifth-round draft pick as his salary outgrew their interest. Deviprasath worried then that the lessons and friendship had run their course.
Instead, he and Cooper began FaceTiming each Monday night as Deviprasath shared his screen.
“Then he came back to Dallas [each offseason] and it was almost like no difference,” Deviprasath said. “Our chess lessons have grown over the years.”