Joshua Waitzkin

JoshuaWaitzkin (born December 4, 1976) is an Amer-ican chess player, martial arts competitor, and author. Asa child, he was recognized as a prodigy, and won the U.S.Junior Chess championship in 1993 and 1994. He is theonly person to have won the National Primary, Elemen-tary, Junior High School, High School, U.S. Cadet, andU.S. Junior Closed chess championships in his career.The movie Searching for Bobby Fischer is based on hisearly life.

1 Early life

Waitzkin was born in New York City and has a Jew-ish background. He began playing the game at the ageof six, having discovered it while wandering throughWashington Square Park in New York City. It was there,while playing blitz chess with the hustlers, that he was“discovered” by Bruce Pandolfini, a chess author andteacher, who later took Waitzkin under his wing for anumber of years. During his years as a student at TheDalton School in New York City he led the school to winseven national team championships between the third andninth grades in addition to his eight individual titles.The first master he ever defeated was Edward Frumkin,in a game featuring a remarkable sacrifice of Waitzkin’squeen and rook in exchange for a checkmate six moveslater. Waitzkin was only ten years old at the time.[1]

At age 11, he and fellow prodigy K. K. Karanja were theonly two children to draw with World Champion GarryKasparov in an exhibition game where Kasparov playedsimultaneously against 59 youngsters. Two years later, heearned the title of National Master, and at age 16 becamean International Master.Waitzkin has not played in a US Chess Federation tour-nament since 1999[2] and his last FIDE tournament wasbefore 2000.[3]

1.1 Movie portrayal

Nevertheless, Waitzkin remains a well-known and pop-ular chess figure, largely owing to Paramount Pictures'1993 movie Searching for Bobby Fischer, directed bySteven Zaillian and produced by William Horberg. Thescript for this film was based on a 1988 book by Joshua’sfather, Fred Waitzkin: Searching for Bobby Fischer: TheFather of a Prodigy Observes the World of Chess. Wait-zkin makes a cameo in the film, in a scene in the last quar-

ter of the movie where his father is watching a young Joshplay a character Vinnie from a bench. The real Josh canbe seen in a black sweatshirt playing chess right next tothe movie character Josh.

2 JW Foundation

Waitzkin announced the formation of The JW Founda-tion on April 8, 2008:

The JW Foundation is dedicated to help-ing teachers, parents, and educational insti-tutions nurture the unique potential of chil-dren and young adults. Our mission is to helpstudents discover a creative, resilient passionfor learning while embracing and overcomingchallenges.

The organization recently launched a new initiative andwebsite, The Art of Learning Project. The site featuresresources for educators interested in developing a moreengaged understanding of the learning process.

3 Author

Joshua Waitzkin is the author of two books: AttackingChess: Aggressive Strategies, Inside Moves from the U.S.Junior Chess Champion (1995) and The Art of Learning:An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance (2008). He isalso the spokesperson for the Chessmaster video game se-ries, and is featured in the game giving advice and gameanalysis.In The Art of Learning, Waitzkin recounts the story ofhis years as a chess competitor from his own perspec-tive. He describes how movie fame challenged his con-centration on the game, how he took up Tai Chi as a formof relaxation, and then discovered that the same learningtechniques he employed in chess enabled him to advancerapidly in martial arts as well. He subsequently studiedeastern philosophies and the psychology of learning.

4 Martial Arts

As a young adult, Waitzkin’s focus shifted to the mar-tial art T'ai chi ch'uan. He holds several US national

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medals and a 2004 world champion title in the compet-itive sport of Tai Chi Push Hands (pushing hands).[4]Waitzkin also became a championship coach, leadingGrandmasterWilliam C. C. Chen's US Push Hands Teamto several titles at the Tai ChiWorld Cup in Taiwan, guid-ing teammates Jan Lucanus and Jan C. Childress to theirworld titles.[5] Waitzkin is also a black belt in BrazilianJiu-Jitsu under world champion and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsuphenomenon Marcelo Garcia.[6][7] Waitzkin is the co-founder of MGInAction.com and The Marcelo GarciaAcademy, a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school located in NewYork City.

5 Personal

Waitzkin is active in the fight against Duchenne MuscularDystrophy. Although he does not have it himself, a closefriend of his, Jonathan Wade, suffers from the medicalcondition.On April 23, 2010, Waitzkin married Desiree Cifre,[8] ascreenwriter and former contestant on The Amazing Race.

6 References[1] Waitzkin’s game against Frumkin

[2] “USCF membership info”. Main.uschess.org. Retrieved2011-12-04.

[3] “Waitzkin FIDE card”. Ratings.fide.com. Retrieved2011-12-04.

[4] “Josh Waitzkin’s The Art of Learning. Chess and Mar-tial Arts”. ShowsWaitzkin’s championship round at ChungHwa Tai Chi World Cup 2004. Retrieved 24 March 2014.

[5] “Jan Lucanus vs. Chen Chi-Cheng Fixed Step Push HandsChampionship Match ICMAC Orlando, FL 2005”. JoshWaitzkin coaches Jan Lucanus’ victory over Tai Chi WorldChamp. World Push Hands. Retrieved 24 March 2014.

[6] “Josh Waitzkin Interview | On the Mat | Worlds LargestBrazilian Jiu Jitsu Gi and No Gi Belt Database”. On theMat. January 25, 2008. Retrieved 2011-12-04.

[7] “Josh Waitzkin interview « Another neijia blog”. Nei-jia.wordpress.com. May 2, 2008. Retrieved 2011-12-04.

[8] “Wedding Under the Cherry Blossoms at the BrooklynBotanical Garden”. cranesongphotography.com. Re-trieved 2012-08-12.

7 Further reading• Fred Waitzkin, Searching for Bobby Fischer: TheFather of a Prodigy Observes the World of Chess(1988), Random House hardcover: ISBN 0-394-54455-2, Penguin paperback: ISBN 978-0-14-023038-3

• Josh Waitzkin, Attacking Chess: Aggressive Strate-gies and Inside Moves from the U.S. Junior ChessChampion (1995), Fireside, ISBN 978-0-684-80250-3

• Josh Waitzkin, The Art of Learning: A Journey inthe Pursuit of Excellence (2007), Free Press, ISBN978-0-7432-7745-7

8 External links• Joshua Waitzkin player profile and games atChessgames.com

• “Chess Champion Offers Success Strategies forLife” audio interview by NPR on May 14, 2007about the book The Art of Learning

• The Art of Learning Project

• Interviews with Josh Waitzkin

• JW Foundation

• Edward Winter, Searching for Bobby Fischer(Joshua Waitzkin)

• MGInAction

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