Joshua Waitzkin (born December 4, 1976) is an American former chess player, martial arts competitor, and author. As a child, he was recognized as a prodigy, and won the U.S. Junior Chess championship in 1993 and 1994. The film ''

Searching for Bobby Fischer ''Searching for Bobby Fischer'', released in the United Kingdom as ''Innocent Moves'', is a 1993 American Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Steven Zaillian in his List of directorial debuts, directorial debut. Starr ...

'' is based on his early life.

Early life and education

Waitzkin first noticed the game of chess being played while walking with his mother in New York City's Washington Square Park at the age of six. At age seven, Waitzkin began studying the game with his first formal teacher

Bruce Pandolfini Bruce Pandolfini (born September 17, 1947) is an American chess author, teacher, and coach. A USCF national master, he is generally considered to be America's most experienced chess teacher. In 1983, Pandolfini was the chess consultant to auth ...

. During his years as a student at Dalton he led the school to win seven national team championships between the third and ninth grades, in addition to his eight individual titles. In 1999, Waitzkin enrolled at Columbia University, where he studied philosophy. At ten years old, Waitzkin played a notable game featuring a

sacrifice Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exi ...

of his queen and rook in exchange for a

checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...

six moves later. At 11, Waitzkin and fellow prodigy

K. K. Karanja Kangugi "K. K." Karanja (born November 23, 1973) is an American chess player and former chess prodigy. He became a US Chess Federation Candidate Master at the age of 10. Career Championships and awards In 1985 at the age of 11, he won the ...

were the only two children to draw with World Champion Garry Kasparov in an exhibition event where Kasparov played simultaneously against 59 youngsters. At age 13, he earned the title of National Master, and at age 16 became an

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

. Waitzkin has not played in a US Chess Federation tournament since 1999, and his last

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

tournament was before 2000. Waitzkin has also stated in an interview his reasoning for leaving chess

When people ask me why I stopped playing chess … I tend to say that I lost the love. And I guess if I were to be a little bit more true, I would say that I became separated from my love; I became alienated from chess somewhat … The need that I felt to win, to win, to win all the time, as opposed to the freedom to explore the art more and more deeply, and I think that started to move me away from the game and also chess for me was so intimate. It was something that I loved so deeply that when I started to become alienated from it, I couldn't do it in an impure way.

Film portrayal

The script for

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

' 1993 film ''

'' (released in the United Kingdom as ''

Innocent Moves ''Searching for Bobby Fischer'', released in the United Kingdom as ''Innocent Moves'', is a 1993 American drama film written and directed by Steven Zaillian in his directorial debut. Starring Max Pomeranc in his film debut, Joe Mantegna, J ...

'') was based on a 1988 book by Waitzkin's father, Fred Waitzkin: ''Searching for Bobby Fischer: The Father of a Prodigy Observes the World of Chess''. Waitzkin makes a cameo in the film, in a scene in the last quarter of the movie (at 1:21:52) where his father is watching a young Josh play Vinnie ( Laurence Fishburne) from a bench. The real Waitzkin (16 years old at that time) can be seen wearing a black jacket/white hoodie playing chess right next to the film's version of Waitzkin and is sitting across from Josh's father (Joe Mantegna).

Author

Waitzkin is the author of two books: ''Attacking Chess: Aggressive Strategies, Inside Moves from the U.S. Junior Chess Champion'' (1995) and ''The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance'' (2008), an autobiographical discussion of the learning process and performance psychology drawn from Waitzkin's experiences in both chess and the martial arts. He is also the spokesperson for the '' Chessmaster'' video game series, and is featured in the game giving advice and game analysis. Waitzkin has a chapter giving advice in Tim Ferriss' book '' Tools of Titans''.

Martial arts

As a young adult, Waitzkin's focus shifted to the martial art Taiji. He holds several US national medals and a 2004 world champion title in the competitive sport of Taiji Push Hands ( Taiji Tui Shou).Archived a
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Waitzkin also became a championship coach, leading Grandmaster

William C. C. Chen William Chi-Cheng Chen is a Grandmaster of Yang-style tai chi who currently lives in the US. His school is in New York City and he has hundreds of students around the world. He was born in 1933 in Wenzhou Wenzhou (pronounced ; Wenzhounese ...

's US Push Hands Team to several titles at the Tai Chi World Cup in Taiwan, guiding teammates Jan Lucanus and

Jan C. Childress Jan C. Childress (born July 7, 1954) is an American comic book writer, martial artist, financial professional, and former Congressional speechwriter (for Fred Richmond). As a comic book professional, he is best known for writing The Good Guys ...

to their world titles.Archived a
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and th
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Waitzkin is also a black belt in

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

under world champion and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu phenomenon Marcelo Garcia. Waitzkin is the co-founder of MGInAction.com and The Marcelo Garcia Academy, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu school located in New York City.

Personal life

On April 23, 2010, Waitzkin married Desiree Cifre, a screenwriter and former contestant on '' The Amazing Race''.

References

External links

*
"Chess Champion Offers Success Strategies for Life"
audio interview by NPR on May 14, 2007 about the book ''The Art of Learning''
The Art of Learning Project

Interviews with Josh Waitzkin
* Edward Winter
Searching for Bobby Fischer (Joshua Waitzkin)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waitzkin, Joshua 1976 births American chess players 20th-century American Jews American chess writers American male non-fiction writers American non-fiction writers American martial artists Jewish martial artists Chess International Masters Dalton School alumni Columbia College (New York) alumni Living people Jewish chess players 21st-century American Jews