David S. Goodman

David Simon Charles Goodman (born 25 February 1958 in England) is an International Master of chess, and a chess writer. Awarded the IM title in 1983, he won the World Youth Chess Championship (Cadets) in 1975. He played #10 on the English national team in Moscow in 1977. The following year he was part of the five-man English team that won the World Under-26 Team Championship in Mexico City. He was a reporter and editor for AP before becoming a full-time chess teacher in New York City in 2002. He started his career as a stringer reporting on international chess tournaments for AP, before joining the company as a full-time newsman in 1990.

Goodman was educated at Latymer Upper School in London and at Keble College, Oxford. He has a BA and honorary MA from Oxford in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.

Goodman became known for helping to break the news that Soviet Defense Minister Dmitriy Ustinov was dead. The 1984-1985 Kasparov-Karpov World Championship was played in Moscow's Hall of Columns where the bodies of Soviet leaders used to lie in state. After a series of unusual timeouts at the match, Goodman was able to establish through his chess contacts that Ustinov had died.

Goodman has interviewed Woody Allen and John Cleese and covered speeches by the first President Bush and former President Gerald Ford. He is the chess teacher of Don Imus and his son and has appeared on Imus in the Morning.

He has a FIDE Elo rating of 2405.

As of December 2009, Goodman is currently a coach for the elementary school chess team of the Abraham Joshua Heschel High School in New York City.