Pawn to E4, Knight to C3, Queen to A6. On the chess board, each piece and move tells a story, and the weight of each decision bears down on one player. For senior David Katsman, no matter the challenge, each game is a gift.
Ever since he was four years old, Katsman has had a passion for chess. This passion has grown into a skill, and Katsman is now the co-president of the Massachusetts High School Chess League and the president of the high school’s Chess Club. Recently, Katsman tied for third place at a national tournament in Maryland. Katsman is a strong player with a 2121 rating on the Elo rating system, which is a meter that ranks the strength of chess players; 2200 generally marks the player a ‘master.’ Katsman embraces the individualistic nature of chess, but he also uses the sport to strengthen the community.
At the beginning of his chess career, Katsman was led by family and coaches.
“My grandmother taught me how to play. And then, there was an after school program at Baker and a coach there saw my potential and got me to start playing chess,” Katsman said.
Senior Julian Ricco is a member of the Chess Club and plays with Katsman regularly at the library. According to Ricco, Katsman transcends the skill level of many others of his age.
“He sees the game in a completely different way than I do. I mean, he’s been training forever. He’s just positionally really strong,” Ricco said.
Micah Dubnoff is a friend of Katsman who met him at nationals and said he immediately understood Katsman’s strength in character and skill. What impressed him most was his ability to play someone ranked higher than him with steadfast confidence.
“I think it excites him playing against someone that high because he wants to prove himself. I watched one of his games, and in it, he was playing against a master who was not happy with his position,” Dubnoff said.
Katsman said he likes how chess is more individual than team sports.
“I like how there’s this self accountability, which pretty much means that if you lose a game, that means you made a mistake at some point, and you can’t really blame anyone,” Katsman said. “I like team sports too, but in chess specifically there’s always a moment where you can improve. You can always go back and see what you could have done better.”
As a co-president of the Massachusetts High School Chess League and the president of the Chess Club, Katsman is able to grow the chess community despite the individuality of the sport, according to Ricco.
“I think that he really cares about the community,” Ricco said. “He understands that it’s an individual sport, but he’s also a collectivist in the sense that he does a lot for the chess community, brings it together and brings people into the chess club.”
