Searching for Josh Waitzkin

In 1994, I made a trip to the US, together with Matthias Wüllenweber, with whom a decade earlier I had founded ChessBase. We stayed with Ken Thompson in New Jersey, and on the first day after our arrival, just after breakfast, Ken showed us a brand-new film on his giant TV projection screen. It was called Searching for Bobby Fischer, and we watched it with great fascination.

The film tells the story of the six-year-old Josh Waitzkin, who notices the game of chess when walking with his mother in New York City's Washington Square Park. He begins studying the game, with the help of chess teacher Bruce Pandolfini. That turns him into a pre-teen chess prodigy. The film is based on a book by his father, Fred Waitzkin, an American novelist, writer for The New York Times and Esquire. The book, written in 1988, was praised by Tom Stoppard and Nigel Short, and chess historian Edward Winter called it "an enchantingly truthful account of the career of his young chess-playing son Josh."

In 1993 the book was turned into a drama film by Steven Zaillian (in a directorial debut) entitled Searching for Bobby Fischer in the US and Innocent Moves in the United Kingdom. It starred Max Pomeranc as Josh, Joe Mantegna as Fred, Joan Allen as Josh's mother Bonnie, Ben Kingsley, as Bruce Pandolfini. The picture on the right, from the Detroit Free Press, August 1993, shows the grown-up Josh with Max Pomeranc, who played him in the film.

The film was nominated for Best Cinematography in the 66th Academy Awards. Recently I watched it again, for the third or fourth time, with the same level of enjoyment as in 1994 viewing. My advice to all chess friends: get the film, watch it.

Now comes a personal story. Matthias and I enjoyed every minute of the film, and discussed it enthusiastically on an afternoon trip to New York City. There we wandered around, me showing Matthias the places I knew. Soon we were standing in front of a residential building, and Matthias, looking at the name plates, said: "Hey, here's someone named Waitzkin – what a coincidence!"

I rang the bell, and we proceeded upstairs, Matthias still mystified. But the apartment door opened, and we were welcomed in - by Fred Waitzkin, wife Bonnie and children Josh and Katya. We had a wonderful afternoon together with the enchanting family. I had known Fred, the writer, for a number of years and had not mentioned this during our viewing of the film.

I met Josh a number of times after that, especially during the 1997 match Kasparov vs Deep Blue. Then he dropped out of my view. And then, just a week ago, our common friend Yasser Sairawan sent me a link to this article, which describes how Josh, now in his forties [photo by johnnyscars], lives a private life in Costa Rica, in a place “where the jungle meets the Pacific.” The article describes his post-chess live in martial arts and tai chi.

It also tells us how two years ago, Joseph Art Mazzulla, head basketball coach for the Boston Celtics, flew to Costa Rica to meet Josh personally. Mazzulla had previously consulted Josh on performance psychology via text messages, but now he spent "eight agonizing, rewarding, and beautiful days" working with him, surfing, hiking barefoot, and meditating, with a focused on psychological vulnerabilities through discomfort, on strengthening mental toughness and adaptability. He hired Josh as a Celtics consultant.

The Art of Learning

"What I am best at is the art of learning," Josh has said, and he wrote a book on the subject. It contains heart-stopping martial arts wars and tense chess face-offs with life lessons. The Art of Learning (available at Amazon for $11.29) takes readers through his unique journey to excellence. He explains in clear detail how a well-thought-out, principled approach to learning is what separates success from failure. Josh believes that achievement, even at the championship level, is a function of a lifestyle that fuels a creative, resilient growth process. 

Through his own example he explains how to embrace defeat and make mistakes work for you. Does your opponent make you angry? Josh describes how to channel emotions into creative fuel. As he explains it, obstacles are not obstacles but challenges to overcome, to spur the growth process by turning weaknesses into strengths.