Josh Waitzkin

[GeneChing]

We ran an article on Josh titled Taiji Chess Master By Melissa Leon Guerrero-Do back in our 2005 July/August (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=598). Now he has a new book out (we'll be giving away some autographed copies here soon) so you're likely to hear more from him.


Attacking with body and mind
“Searching for Bobby Fischer” star Waitzkin describes struggle for excellence in chess, martial arts (http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2007/5/22/attackingWithBodyAndMind)
May 22, 2007
By Sam Bhagwat

During his youth, Josh Waitzkin was widely regarded as a chess prodigy. From nine to 18, he was the highest-ranked chess player in America for his age. But four years later, the subject of the book and 1993 movie “Searching for Bobby Fischer” gave up professional chess, due to what he has described as a growing distance from the game. He then embarked on an unlikely journey to the arena of martial arts, winning multiple world championships in the field of Tai Chi Push Hands.

Now 31, Waitzkin says that his success in such seemingly disparate fields was driven by a common element - a love, and method of, learning. His new book, “The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence” elaborates a set of techniques that Waitzkin says is essential to improvement in any subject. After a Thursday signing event at the Stanford Bookstore, Waitzkin said down with The Daily to talk about his views on the learning process and his struggle to succeed at the top levels of chess and tai chi.

The Stanford Daily: You mentioned in your talk that if elements of your personality haven’t been confronted, they’ll come out under pressure. Could you talk a bit about that in the context of both of your pursuits, tai chi and chess?

Josh Waitzkin: First of all, in the abstract, the way it works is that when you’re under incredible pressure, one thing that happens is that the last thing you learn is the first thing to go. It’s very interesting. If, for example, you’re a chess player and you’ve been working on a certain weakness or a certain series of ideas. If you’re pushed to your absolute limit, the thing that’s going to go is the last thing you’ve been working on—the last thing you’ve learned—because it’s not so deeply embedded in your being.

And then on a more profound level; in terms of, for example, your state of mind, your state of concentration, your performance state, your zone. If I’m in a world championship in the martial arts, and I’m dealing with an opponent who’s a very dirty player. I was coming against the European Champion in the 2002 World Championships - everything he did was illegal, he was targeting my groin, he was targeting my neck. Everything he did was trying to make me angry, trying to hurt me. And so if I hadn’t confronted why it is that I get angry, if I hadn’t confronted what anger is really about, what the indignant response to a dirty player is really all about — because what it’s about is fear. When someone does something which is infuriating, it’s because on some level it’s challenging, and it makes us uncomfortable - it’s unsettling.

For many years the training I did was in the martial arts was ... [meant to deal with this]. It all began when I was competing in my first national Push Hands championship, and in the finals, I was competing against this guy. I was dominating the tournament, I was dominating the match, and then what he started to do was throw head butts to the nose. The second head butt, I was getting this incredible blood rush, this incredible, wild blood rush to my head - you get out of control like a bull seeing red, and I started to lose control of myself. Instead of using his aggression, taking advantage of it, I started to become a pure aggressor, away from the methodical, introspective, aware competitor. I became like a crazy, out-of-control bull. I almost lost; I ended up recovering myself just before. So I wanted to take on this question of why was I becoming angry. I became angry because I didn’t know how to deal with head-butting to the nose, I didn’t know how to deal with someone targeting my groin, or my knees, or my neck, because I was used to people who played by the rules. It was fear.

So I started training against people who were dirty, seeking out dirty players to play with in my place: the guys who were out of control, the most fierce. The guys who were the biggest creeps, you know. There was this guy, I call him Frank in the book, he always tried to attack my jugular. Whenever he was being dominated, he would go after you. Complete creep. I got to the point, I realized, [where] I got angry; I didn’t know how to deal with it, the anger was a defense mechanism. I acted as though I was above it but in fact I was having a fear response.

And I started to work with him and I started to learn how to handle that, how to technically handle those responses, that dirty play, and he inspired me to perform to the very height of my ability.

And then in competition, you go back to this scene I was describing, with the Austrian. When he came at me with his dirty play, I smiled. I took it, I channeled it to more and more of an intense state. And the interesting thing there is that you have this dirty player, who’s used to affecting his opponent, and so the reaction of his opponents is a leg that he uses to stand on. If I don’t react, he’s without a leg he’s used to, and he falls apart. He ended up getting more and more out of control, and ended up completely self-destructing, because I wasn’t reacting to it. And the reason that I wasn’t reacting to it is that I was reacting to what was really going on.

TSD:You mention dirty play a lot in the book as well. What is your insight into the differing motivation that separates why you want to practice tai chi or play chess, and the Russian player that kicked you under the table [during chess games]. Is there a difference in motivation?

JW:Yeah, there is. My love is for the self-cultivation that comes with these things. Of course, you get very ambitious in this also. There’s always dirty players. But I’ve never gone there. If I did, I would have to stop [playing]...

A lot of people were win-at-all-costs. Coming from the Soviet bloc, where they were incredibly poor ... pre-breakup, the Russian school of chess was basically about winning, and doing what it takes to win. And so there were no qualms about breaking rules, or skirting the barriers of what might be ethical or what might not. And that was something about my relationship to being a good sport or being ethical. And it isn’t important to beat a lot of people, because when they’re confronted with the option of winning a world title or not - they’ll win at all costs.

TSD:You discuss the incremental versus entity theory of learning in your book — do you think that the win-at-all-costs versus loving the competition plays out ...

JW:Let me answer, I know where you’re going. The kids who cheat, for example, in school - the kids who copy the teachers’ test questions, [and] memorize the answers have a very different experience than taking their time and learning all the material, the ideas behind the material. If you have the win-at-all-costs, results-oriented approach, you’re not learning anything, you’re memorizing. And you’re also programming yourself to associate success not only with cheating, but with memorizing, and this static, inorganic relationship with learning.

While if you value the long-term lessons you learn, the long-term successes over the short-term successes, you’ll have a very different approach. In the book, I talk about the under-18 World Chess Championship [title game]. The Russian guy offered me a draw, and I could have just shaken hands and tied for first place. I turned him down and lost — and it was a heartbreaking loss, the most heartbreaking loss of my life. But the interesting thing is, if I had taken the draw, I wouldn’t have had the game - I would have had some glory. But the loss was heartbreaking. But it was incredibly important for me to have that experience. I was playing to win - the goal is putting yourself on the line, that’s what will open up the long-term effects. But cheating, or playing dirty, that’s not putting yourself on the line — ethical issues aside, and for me, the ethical issues would have been enough.

TSD: That makes sense. Returning more to the abstract, the book talks a lot about, beyond chess and tai chi, techniques like “Making Smaller Circles” and “Investing in Loss.” What makes those things an art rather than a science?

JW:For one thing, it’s because my fundamental method is not putting people into some sort of mold, but finding individuals’ unique paths. Now, there are some techniques [everyone] can apply. In training for the [Tai Chi Push Hands] world championship in 2004, we were using these intuitive breaks we’d have, these breakthroughs we’d have, letting each one’s personal intuition, personal style, lead the creative process. Everyone’s essential reality is very different.

I don’t believe that everyone should fit into this one mold, I believe that these ideas can help give a direction - [but] you take them and make them your own. That’s the difference.

[GeneChing]

continued from previous post



TSD:Could you expand a bit on individualized [learning] in contrast with the cookie-cutter style of teaching you were mentioning earlier.

JW: For a long time I had this teacher who was trying to put me in this mode of chess player, which wasn’t my natural style - I was a very creative, attacking player, but he wanted to make me into more of a Karpovian player. [Former World Champion Anatoly Karpov is renowned for his defensive style of play.] And I was in this box; it wasn’t good for me. And suddenly I had to think of, “What would Karpov play here?” as opposed to, “What would Josh play here?” And my style of play was the opposite of Karpov’s. There are a lot of chess positions were there are two or three moves which are equally good, and [you] play different moves depending on your style of play. A lot of teachers try to replicate themselves in their students. That’s a bad style. You want a teacher who can bring out their natural shine.

TSD: When students have paths that take them far from what’s a normal path ... often people will hear, ‘it’s just a game,’or ‘it’s just an instrument.’ What’s your response to arguments like that?

JW: Anything in life is what you make of it. To some people, chess is just a game. Chess could be like checkers. Anything you do, you can do it as an artist, or you can do it as a mindless automaton. People who want to put things in boxes usually put them in boxes which is defined by their limitations of understanding. If I’m going to be describing my own ideas to you, you’re going to describe my ideas as you understand them, because they’re going to come through you. If you are studying chess, what you bring to it — how you approach it — is what chess will be to you. If you try to find the deeper mystery of chess, if you plunge into your soul, your being — I don’t mean soul in a religious sense — the core of your being, unrelentingly honest with yourself about your weaknesses, and you’re not lazy, you begin to feel the harmonies; it’s not just a game. Same with art. Same with life.

Chess is a tunnel you can plunge as deeply into as you are capable of plunging. Or you can skip around the surfaces of everything. Life is the same.

TSD: In your book, you mention a lot about the psychological tells, in chess or tai chi - do you think those elements are essential, and how does that get impacted by things like computer chess programs?

JW: I never liked playing on the Internet, because I always liked the feel of humans. I liked the psychological feel of my opponent, the drama of the game. I used to think that computers would ruin chess, but then I came to the idea of, “Why don’t we use technology to bring out the human side of the game?” My idea, in a lot of versions of Chessmaster, has been to bring out the human, psychological, dramatic, sensual elements of the experience through a computer.

TSD: More of the psychology. It seems, looking at Bobby Fischer or your childhood rival whose father made him play chess 12 hours a day ... what does being devoted to chess do to you mentally? Can it screw you up?

JW: It can screw people up if you have a bad relationship to the game, which is unhealthy. Anything can. Music, ballet. Stage parents who are out of control, crazy. If you have an unhealthy relationship to what you do it will destroy you. If you have a wonderful relationship it will be wonderful. That’s what my book is about: the art of learning, not how to learn chess. It doesn’t matter what the discipline is, it matters how you learn it. Tai chi is about putting your body in the right alignment, but if you do tai chi badly, it’s terrible. The healthiest thing in the world, done badly, can be unhealthy.

TSD: After you won the elementary school championship, you said in the book that you’d go back to school, your friends would congratulate you, and you’d play football. Do you think having a support group - friends, family - helped you ... take the long view?

JW: It’s good to have an outlet or two, something that allows you to explore your connections. Every summer [as a child] I would go fishing with my family for six weeks, left everything behind. So I would work, work, work - then I would have a period of time when I would let it all go. I’m also a bit of a naturalist, looking for connections with nature. Plunging deeply into other things [can help you avoid] tunnel vision.

TSD: That’s all I have to ask - thanks for talking to me!

JW: My pleasure.

Waitzkin has no plans to return to professional chess or tai chi. Instead, he is tackling another sport, training for the 2011 World Championships of Brazilian jujitsu.

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

Thanks, Gene.. i am 3/4 through the book and highly recommend it.. Josh has done a great service in highlighting the process of Learning from the perspective of someone that understands its organic processes.. the book is well crafted and inspirational for those that wish to actually understand the process of personal growth..

Be well..

[GeneChing]

Josh's promoter sent me these:

Podcast interview (http://www.simonsays.com/assets/isbn/0743277457/PC83_0743277457.mp3)

Video clip (http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?tab=1&pid=526819&agid=7)

Like I said, well be offering some autographed copies of Josh's new book in June, soon after the sweepstakes for Matt Polly's (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26966&page=7) autographed American Shaolin is over.

[GeneChing]

Five of you who enter our sweepstakes (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/) between now and 6:00 p.m. PST on 06/25/07 will win autographed copies of Josh Waitzkin's new book. Good luck everyone!

[GeneChing]

BTW, the winners of our sweepstakes were announced three weeks ago (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46988). I forgot to update that here.


'Art of Learning' isn't just black and white (http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-07-16-prodigy_N.htm)
By Tracey Wong Briggs, USA TODAY

HOW NOT TO BE A PAWN IN LIFE

In The Art of Learning, Josh Waitzkin combines memoir, performance psychology, Eastern thought and parenting. The book is in the self-help section of many bookstores, which makes him wary because instead of offering answers, he probes questions and ideas.

"I think a lot of self-help books are attempting to give easy answers to complex problems," he says. "One thing I definitely struggled to do is to convey the complexity of these ideas."

They include:

•Entity/incremental learning. Rather than treating intelligence or talent as a fixed "entity" that you have or you don't, he stresses "incremental" progress through hard work.

•"Numbers to leave numbers." By internalizing technical skills, such as the "numbers" of chess positions, you "leave" them to your subconscious mind so you can do them by feel without thinking about them.

•The soft zone. Recalling intense periods of creative flow in which his performance was inspired and effortless, Waitzkin explores methods of creating inspiring conditions. Those include practicing stress and recovery to manage tension, figuring out what inspires serene focus and creating a routine to trigger that state.

•Investing in loss. Learning from your mistakes means accepting your imperfections and figuring out how to make them strengths.

•Making smaller circles. Rather than trying to master the big picture, concentrate on understanding the smallest fundamentals with such depth that they become part of your mental framework.

•Slowing down time. By training yourself to integrate information into your subconscious mind, you free your conscious mind to focus on smaller amounts of information in greater detail, making it feel as if time is slowing down.

•Making sandals. Rather than "paving the road," or trying to control external conditions, you "make sandals," or change the way you deal with those conditions. Instead of trying to block out distractions or emotions, for example, figure out how to channel them in positive ways.

---

Josh Waitzkin became a celebrity at 16 when the 1993 film Searching for Bobby Fischer told the chess champ's story, from learning the game at 6 by playing street hustlers in New York City's Washington Square Park to his first national title at 9.

Thrust into the spotlight, Waitzkin tried to play up to others' expectations, had trouble adjusting to a new coach and ultimately quit competitive chess in his early 20s. He explored Eastern philosophy as a religion major at Columbia, took up Tai Chi at 21 and won two world championships six years later. Now 30, he studied Brazilian jiu jitsu.

His new book, The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence (Free Press, $25), describes his journey through chess to tai chi and his approach to peak performance. USA TODAY?s Tracey Wong Briggs reaches him in the Bahamas.

Q: Why did you take up tai chi?

A: Initially I was very drawn to the Tao Te Ching, the Taoist philosophy. It was helping me deal with the balance of these external and internal issues with my chess life. Tai chi is the martial embodiment of Taoist philosophy. Initially, I had no intention of competing in the martial arts; it was just the meditation.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Art | Learning | Bobby Fischer | Tracey Wong Briggs

Q: You were national champion two years after taking up tai chi and world champion four years after that. What did you bring from chess that allowed you to become that good that quickly?

A: One way of looking at that is through the idea of "numbers to leave numbers, form to leave form" (learning fundamentals, such as the numbers of chess positions, so well that they leave your conscious mind and become instinctive). It started to feel as though I was just taking the essence of my chess understanding and making it manifest in the martial arts.

Q: How are your techniques applicable outside direct competition — say, writing a poem or playing the violin?

A: I think my connecting those two arts is just an example that all arts can be connected. Principles of learning from anything can be applied to anything else. My relationship to these things isn't about the arts; it's not about chess or tai chi. It's really about learning.

Q: You had a lot of aptitude for chess, but you also credit your success to how you were raised. What did your parents and teachers do right?

A: Compared with many of the rivals I was competing against, I had the feeling they were much more naturally gifted than me. The thing that really separated me was having a great foundation and an environment around me that allowed me to pursue it in a beautiful way.

So many people are paralyzed by this (perfectionist) vision. Very gifted people, they win and they win, and they are told that they win because they are a winner. That seems like a positive thing to tell children, but ultimately, what that means is when they lose, it must make them a loser. I think that kind of fixed view of intelligence makes you brittle. It makes you unable to deal with inevitable setbacks.

For me, I think the best thing that ever happened was losing that first national championship game. It put me in a mini-crisis as a young boy — actually, for me, it didn't feel "mini" — but ultimately, when I won the nationals that followed, my relationship to success became about that process, the idea of having setbacks, overcoming them and ultimately succeeding.

My coach and my parents both had this relationship to what I was doing, which was allowing me to express myself with chess. And so I could love it. I had a passion for it. I was expressing myself through chess, and I was learning about myself through chess.

Q: A lot of your book is informed by Eastern thought. Why is this hard for Westerners? Or is it hard for everyone?

A: I don't think it's a Western-Eastern thing. When I've competed in Taiwan, I've been stunned by how many people are stuck; they're proclaiming themselves to be grand masters, but they haven't learned in 30 years. It's easy to get stuck. Once we start to have success, it becomes easier to become kind of cemented in this perspective of who we are.

In America, people focus on the end result; they focus on the star. Michael Jordan: They don't focus so much on his journey as his knocking in that last-second shot to win the game in the playoffs, as opposed to all the hundreds of shots he missed in the last second to lose the game for his team that ultimately made him the competitor he was.

Q: The highlight reel and not the whole game?

A. Exactly. Or even more than the whole game, how about all the missed shots in the lowlight reel? The lowlight reel is what makes the champion. That's part of the reason that in the writing of the book, I was very true to the most painful moments of my life, because I think the long period of crisis I described toward the end of my chess life was defining to me.

[GeneChing]

The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin (http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4297)
Review by Carol Jarecki, International Arbiter

Complete silence in the small high school classroom in Bloomington, IL, the summer of 1995. Eight of the best and brightest US junior chess players were engrossed in studying their positions. Josh Waitzkin, short of time, was focused intently on his game. Boris, his opponent, came over to me and said, “Josh touched his knight. When he moves make sure he moves his knight.” I was a bit incredulous since Josh was sitting stone still with his hands under the table. As soon as he made his move – not the knight – Boris complained that Josh had to move the knight. Waitzkin looked up shocked. “What? Why should I move the knight?” Another of Boris’s unlimited dirty tricks. Claim denied, I give Waitzkin an extra couple of minutes for the disturbance and he sank back into concentration, eventually winning the game.

Another player a couple of rounds earlier was not so fortunate. In that case, Boris claimed a three-time repetition, also to the amazement and consternation of his unsuspecting opponent. We took the game out of the room to replay it but soon Boris retracted the claim. Dean, who of course had a better position, couldn’t get his concentration back and lost on time. Exactly what Boris was hoping would happen.

This scenario is offered here not only because it pertains to the same Boris described in Waitzkin’s book but also as an example of the value of learning to concentrate fully and deeply and, more important, having the ability to snap back into that mode after an acute, penetrating disruption.

The Art of Learning is an amazing book, an autobiography, an introspection, an analysis of self, of the author’s riveting personal experiences and the development of his own learning process – what it meant to him and what it could mean to others in all walks of life and enterprises. In a most charming way, with no bravado, he takes us through his early infatuation with chess, informal and by chance, and how his inherent eagerness to learn propelled him through the complicated, demanding and convoluted world of scholastic tournament life. Heights of success, the thrill of winning, the misery of losing, the periods when one wonders if it’s all worth it, then the determination to keep going just for the love of it. Then, at a mature 20 taking up an entirely new life, we follow him into the world of competitive martial arts leading to the highest levels. The text flows comfortably between personal stories and insightful discussions, scientific presentations and the ever-present veins of mindset and mental development.

Josh, of course, did not understand nor delve into the “learning process” at such a young age. He only knew that chess was enthralling, a mental challenge that reaped great rewards not only because of winning but also because of the exciting assimilation of information. Information that built upon itself, that fused itself together in his mind, which allowed him to be an inventor, a creator and a student all at the same time. When he eventually separated from chess he found the same inspiration from the study of Tai Chi Chuan, this time the intellectual, philosophical and psychological combining to produce a highly complex and extraordinarily fine-tuned physical product.

The movie, Searching for Bobby Fischer, made Josh a “film star”, with all the baggage of fans, interviews, appearances and pressure, at the same time as he was trying to focus on his personal goals and concentrate on learning. It’s easy to get sidetracked by popularity and idolization and the media can be relentless in its quest for a story. A handsome, intelligent, well-spoken, charming young man excelling in a mind sport, winning multiple national championships and the subject of a popular movie, is a perfect target. As much as we would like to popularize chess it is difficult for an individual to have a balanced life and gain a normal maturity under the glare of the spotlight.

Josh deservedly gives his parents an enormous amount of credit, but it is rare that a grown child can express his parental connection in such a fervent way. As he repeatedly observes, at times the world of scholastic tournament chess can be particularly cruel and demoralizing, although this is probably so in many children’s individual competitive endeavors such as, for instance, ice skating. Parental support and compassion and the guidance to develop a well-rounded life is essential. Bonnie and Fred helped him keep his head on straight and his soul intact.

A cross section of parents in the scholastic chess world reaches from the disinterested, disengaged and belittling to aggressive, demanding and torturous. I’ve seen fathers slap a child for not winning a game. When young Gata Kamsky first played in the US, in the New York Open, he was paired against Judith Polgar about mid-way through the tournament. Dead lost, in a resignable position, he sat and waited until his time ran out rather than face his father’s wrath.

There are coaches and parents who even encourage their children to cheat, and teach them useful tricks in order to do so. Then there are those who are just the opposite. During one of the final games in the recent US National High School Championship in Kansas City a player was clearly winning, threatening a back rank mate. She left for the bathroom and returned to find her opponent's f2 pawn had been removed, giving his king an escape route. She questioned him unsuccessfully and was too shy or insecure to complain to the authorities. She lost. Shortly before the trophy award ceremony I found out about this from another arbiter who had been approached by the girl’s father. With the intention of changing the game result, which would effect the trophy distribution, I went to look for the f2 boy’s coach. It didn’t take long to find him as he and the boy’s father were waiting outside the office. They had come to the same conclusion – that the boy had blatantly cheated – and were appalled. They wanted his chess experiences to teach him honesty, hard work, humility and fairness. They did not want a higher team trophy based on his false result.

Following the autobiographical tack Josh relates his deep love of the sea, boating, fishing, free diving and the family’s annual adventures in the Bahamas. His enthusiastic narrative proves that he is a born adventurer, a lover of the free spirit. He undoubtedly inherited this from at least his paternal grandmother, Stella, but the love was nurtured by both parents as they hauled him off every summer to a small house on Bimini and a month of fishing from their modest boat. Fred Waitzkin’s book The Last Marlin describes his own growing-up adventures in this venue and Josh absorbed it like a sponge. continued next post

[GeneChing]

Part II (http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4305)
The completion of high school opened new horizons for Josh. He had read Kerouac, became fascinated with existentialism, oriental philosophy, and the need to see the world through different eyes. Chess continued to absorb most of his life, as he studied, played in tournaments in many foreign lands and, with a base in Slovenia, roamed throughout Europe and beyond. It was a simpler existence then he had had in New York but when he finally returned to stay again in the US the pressure of the limelight returned too. He gradually became less focused on the game and, through his interest in Eastern studies, at the age of 21 began instead the rudimentary study of Tai Chi Chuan.

When learning any subject the quality of the teacher is everything. Bruce Pandolfini was the perfect chess teacher for Josh’s young years and, when starting Tai Chi Chuan, he was fortunate to discover, again, the perfect instructor to suit his needs and personality. True to form, Josh became fascinated with its complexity and completely absorbed in mastering the art and science of this new discipline. But, although he was a beginner, he didn’t start from scratch. He integrated the multitude of lessons in learning that he had developed over the years in the study of chess, and the study of life in general. This is one of the basics of this book – the fact that previous lessons learned, if understood and assimilated, can be used to “navigate” through new arenas.

Learning how to learn is the most important lesson in life. Understanding how to digest and process information and to use it resourcefully offers an individual the opportunity to accomplish, possibly master, anything. Recently, an educator friend told me that parents should teach a child how to work and teachers should teach how to learn. Unfortunately, too many teachers teach only the material at hand and not the all-important principles of how to absorb and use it.

Children who are not encouraged to think and explore, who are afraid to reach beyond borders for fear of losing or being criticized, cannot grow mentally. They may be locked in a constricted vision of themselves and their abilities – as Josh says, self paralyzed. His insightful discussion of the differences between entity and incremental theories of intelligence and how each affects the learning process is one of the arteries coursing through this book.

The last time I saw Josh play chess was at the 1999 Bermuda GM Invitational at the Mermaid Beach Club. He loved to play the Bermuda events, as did everyone, drawn not only by the scenery, balmy winter climate and surrounding ocean but matchless hospitality and camaraderie. One year he was scheduled to follow the Invitational with the Bermuda Open but made a trip to the hospital instead. He loved to climb the jagged rocky cliffs along the beautiful South Shore, sit on a vantage point above the ocean feeling the wind and fresh salt air, and reflect. The story I heard was that he saw a large fish trapped in a tidal pool and started to clamber down to try to save it. He lost his grip on the wet rocks and careened down the razor-sharp volcanic boulders desperately trying to get a grip on something to stop his slide as much of his skin was slashed and shredded by the ruthless sea cliff. His friend Maurice Ashley found him dazed and bloody and took him to the hospital. He flew home to New York the next day. He last played in June 1999 in the Fan Adams International and tied for first place. His US tournament record stops there.

His Tai Chi Chuan Push Hands record skyrocketed to the top as he progressed through brutal competitions, winning national championships along the way, which culminated in the grueling battle to become World Champion in Taiwan late in 2004. Having reached the pinnacle Josh has now gone on to another challenge, again in the martial arts field, and become a beginner once more, this time in the study of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Undoubtedly, he does not remain at the beginner level very long. It will be interesting to see what new adventure he starts in the coming years. He certainly is not a person to sit back and wait for one to come along by itself.

The Art of Learning, however, is not primarily about chess or Tai Chi. It uses the personal relationship the author has had with these two diverse worlds as vehicles to demonstrate and discuss the value of applying a variety of principles of learning – the correct techniques as they can be used to build the blocks of internal growth. Waitzkin makes it clear that it is not so much raw intelligence that leads to success in any given field but the individual’s method of organizing and internalizing information, building upon it, conceptualizing and refining plans that, with hard work and diligent application, lead to realization of the final goal.

Josh writes almost from a position of wonder, a person who admires thunderstorms and violent seas, he ponders the life lessons through which he has progressed, appraises, incorporates and evolves methods to deal with harsh reality and learn to use it to one’s own benefit. Although much of the material is academic – this is a serious intellectual work – he presents it in such a charming, down-to-earth and practical manner that makes the content instructional without feeling so. This is a book from which anyone can benefit, no matter how young or old or in what walk of life or level of achievement.

Readers will surely see themselves and their own personal experiences in some of these pages. I know that when he writes of compartmentalizing information, when he felt he could fit no more information into his brain, it reminds me of the same question I asked my mother when I was very young. Her answer was similar. She said she imagines closets in her mind and sorts information and stores it in the closet along with other matching or relevant data. I tried it and it worked quite well.

By the way, I met Josh at the Hip Hop Chess Federation Tournament. There's coverage in our Jan/Feb 2008 issue (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=738).

[Snake77]

By the way, I met Josh at the Hip Hop Chess Federation Tournament. There's coverage in our Jan/Feb 2008 issue (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=738).


I'd love to see that coverage! Unfortuneately I have'nt received the Jan/Feb 2008 issue yet!:(

[stricker]

yeah i read this book. quite nice. got me interested in reading more about learning theory in psychology and made me take up chess again.

had me wondering just how tough his tai chi training was... no idea how it compares to getting slammed in judo or wrestling, let alone mma... e.g. he compared it to boxing a few times, was it really that tough? hmmm...

[GeneChing]

I met Josh two months ago at the Hip-Hop Chess Federation Invitational. We ran a news story on this unique event in our 2008 January/February issue (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=738), which is on the newsstands now. We just posted an unabridged version of the article on our e-zine (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=741). Enjoy!

[GeneChing]

I was just swapping some emails with Josh. He'll be out here for the HHCF event in April.


The art of learning : apply disciplines and habits towards learning and be a master in any skill (http://latestchess.com/showNews.php?id=136)
Written by Sandeep Gohad 07 February 2008

Very few people share their secrets of success. In the book "The art of learning", Joshua Waitzkin shares his secrets, how you can become successful in any field by applying certain disciplines and habits towards learning. it's fascinating to get his view of how he did it. His book contains a set of tools that reader can apply to any field of endeavor. I find this book very inspirational and motivational. This book can really help you to motivate yourself to the top of your career, business and life.
Josh Waitzkin was the main character in the best selling book and popular movie, "Searching for Bobby Fischer." As a chess prodigy, he received intense publicity and attention, which wore the pace of his progression, later he shifted his focus into tai chi.

In this book, Josh has written his personal experiences and the development of his own learning process. Its very hard to be a master in 2 different fields, he has put so much effort into learning chess and Tai Chi, at the age of 20, he took up an entirely new life, the world of competitive martial arts leading to the highest levels.

The Art of Learning, Josh tells his story of personal achievement and shares the principles of learning. He explains, a planned, principled approach to learning is what separates success from failure. He believes that achievement is a function of a lifestyle that fuels a creative, resilient growth process.

In this book, Josh describes the way his parents related to him during his life of chess, allowing him to be a child, encouraging him to follow his passion. Josh deservedly gives his parents an enormous amount of credit. So it indicates that Parent's and Coach's role is very important.

In the success stories, you will find talking about hard work, discipline, and perseverance. But its hard to understand the actual mechanisms of their success. In The Art of Learning, Josh Waitzkin has explained the secrets of success other than hard work, discipline, and perseverance. He has used very effective examples from his life and the lives of other world-class figures like Michael Jordan.

I find this book very useful especially for chess players and martial arts practitioners, it is a very effective study in one approach to building your skills. I enjoyed the book. His messages on managing emotions during chess and martial arts matches are very useful in life. I liked the way he has explained about how to embrace defeat and make mistakes work for you, obstacles are not obstacles but challenges to overcome, to spur the growth process by turning weaknesses into strengths.

About Josh Waitzkin :

Joshua Waitzkin is a chess player as well as martial arts competitor. As a child he was recognized as a prodigy, and won the U.S. Junior Chess championship in 1993 and 1994. He began playing the game at the age of six. During his years as a student at Dalton School in New York City, he led the school to win six national team championships between the 3rd and 9th grades in addition to his eight individual titles.

At the age of 11, he was one of two children to draw with World Champion Garry Kasparov in an exhibition game where Kasparov played simultaneously against 59 youngsters. Two years later, he earned the title of National Master, and at 16 became an International Master.

In the January 2004 FIDE rankings, he had an Elo rating of 2464, though is listed as inactive, with no rated games in 2003 or 2004. This may be due to his recent focus on the martial art Tai Chi Chuan, in which he has won four Tai Chi Chuan pushing hands tournaments. He remains a well-known and popular chess figure, largely owing to Paramount Pictures' 1993 movie Searching for Bobby Fischer, directed by Steven Zaillian.

Joshua Waitzkin is the author of Attacking Chess and The Art of Learning books.

[GeneChing]

...this time, it's the paperback edition. It's autographed by Josh again. See our sweepstakes page. (http://www.kungfumagazine.net/index.html) This contest ends 6:00 p.m. PST on 9/15/08. Good luck everyone!

[GeneChing]

You'll find the winners here. (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52033) If you didn't win, I hear Josh will be at the next HHCF event (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showpost.php?p=882199&postcount=20)and I'm sure he'll have a stack of books to sign there for you personally.