The Chess King

David Arnett stared intently at the boy sitting across from him. The timer to his right ticked down the seconds as the eight-year-old carefully selected his next move. Rook to king 7. Checkmate. In only 16 moves, Arnett had beaten Josh Waitzkin, the chess prodigy featured in Searching for Bobby Fischer, a movie released in 1993. And now, Arnett, a Wharton freshman, is the 10th-ranked chess player in the nation's under-21 division. He began learning chess from his father in New York City at the age of four. After one year, Arnett was beating his father consistently. At seven, Arnett made his debut on a third grade-and-under tour in the National Championships. He was named the best first-grade player in the country. The next year, Arnett won the entire tournament. "The championships were my first real tournaments, and the first place where I went up against my future best friend, Josh Waitzkin," Arnett said. Arnett beat Waitzkin, in a tense matchup which was depicted in Bobby Fischer. The rapidly improving competitor also played on nine national championship teams, won two individual championships, has been on the all-American team for each of the last 10 years and was the National High School Champion last year. "I play more like the [New York] Giants' 1986 championship team, which rarely made mistakes, as opposed to the current [San Francisco] 49ers team which lives and dies by the big play," Arnett explained. "I don't always win pretty, but I usually win." John Lituinchuk, Arnett's 10-year coach from Yale University, was key to teaching this patient style. Arnett wanted to learn chess because at an early age he enjoyed both math and games. "I think chess has changed the way I look at the world," he said, adding that he has decided to give lessons in chess fundamentals and strategies. Arnett tries to share his passion with his students, who range in age from five to 65. Eventually, Arnett said he would like to write a book. Between winning tournaments and tutoring, Arnett has earned about $10,000 from chess. Last January, Arnett attended the Mermaid Ratings Tournament in Bermuda, where he tied for second place and earned $333.33. "Other than the fact that I had to play chess, it was an all-expense paid, 10-day vacation, by myself, in Bermuda during the middle of the school year," he said. But Arnett insists there is more to his life than chess. "I'm not going to pursue only chess because there is not enough money [in it]," he explained. "In order to make any sort of life I would have to teach, write many books, publish and work daily on my chess skills as well." Arnett hopes to organize a group of University students to attend this year's National Collegiate Tournament. There are two other highly ranked players attending the University, Wharton junior Marc Berman and Engineering sophomore Anna Khan. But even as Arnett becomes increasingly involved in life at the University, his friends say chess remains foremost in his mind. "My roommate and I can't get him to stop talking about chess -- even at three o'clock in the morning," said his suitemate, College freshman Michelle Weinberg.

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