Granddaughter inspires chess comic strip character

Chess, granddaughter inspire comic strip character
By Marie L. Pfeifer • Special to the Daily Record • March 10, 2009

Chess anyone? Which room would you like to play in? Rosalyn B. Katz’s Rockaway condo has multiple chess sets in just about every room. Some are miniature, some micro-miniature, but many, too numerous to count, are set up for play.

Katz’s love of chess and the birth of her first grandchild, Zaria Katz, were the impetus for the creation of the comic strip character “Zaria.”

“Zaria is an 8-year-old chess player who is in love with the game and in love with life,” Katz said.

“Her overly enthusiastic way of engaging life gets her into difficulties, but she always lands on her feet.”

While Katz writes the strip, Doina Paraschiv, an illustrator with 20 years’ experience, draws the cartoons that bring “Zaria” to life. Paraschiv is also a chess player.

The strip was picked up by Chess Life magazine, a publication of the United States Chess Federation, with a circulation of 285,000. “Zaria” has been appearing every other month since July 2003.

“Zaria” is currently being featured in Chess Life for Kids. Glenn Petersen, editor of Chess Life for Kids, gave his impression of Zaria:

“I think her character, Zaria, is a thinly disguised attempt to make known her joy and satisfaction at being a Jewish grandmother,”he said.

Katz played chess as a child, then put away her chess set for a time. When her son David began to play competitively, she renewed her interest her interest in the game.

“I’ve known Roz since her firstborn son, David, was 8 years old,” Petersen said. “Whatever she takes on, she takes on full-throttle. She was very supportive of David, who was one of the top promising young chess players in the country. That was when Roz took up chess.”

In the classroom

In 1993, between her other pursuits, Katz wrote and lobbied for a bill in the state Legislature to put chess into the public school classrooms in New Jersey at the second-grade level. The bill passed and became law, but the provisions are optional.

She continues to work with the chess world in other states to enact similar legislation. In fact, she wrote a book, “Make It Legal,” published by the New Jersey State Chess Federation (NJSCF) in 2008.

“This is an important learning tool,” Katz said. “The state of Idaho made it mandatory in their public schools.”

Katz’s career began as a math teacher in Harlem public schools.

“The kids loved my classes,” she said. “They won nine trips to the World’s Fair sponsored by the Math Department.”

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