| Joshua Waitzkin | |
|---|---|
 Joshua Waitzkin, 2005 | |
| Country | United States |
| Born | December 4, 1976 New York City |
| Title | International Master (1993) |
| FIDE rating | 2464 (April 2024) |
| Peak rating | 2480 (July 1998) [1] |
Joshua Waitzkin (born December 4, 1976) is an American former chess player, martial arts world champion, 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 is based on his early life.
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. [2] 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. [3] [4]
At ten years old, Waitzkin played a notable game featuring a sacrifice of his queen and rook in exchange for a checkmate six moves later. [5] At 11, Waitzkin and fellow prodigy K. K. Karanja were the only two children to draw with World Champion Garry Kasparov in an exhibition event where Kasparov played simultaneously against 59 youngsters. [6] [7] At age 13, he earned the title of National Master, and at age 16 became an International Master. [6]
Waitzkin has not played in a US Chess Federation tournament since 1999, [8] and his last FIDE tournament was before 2000. [9] 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. [10]
The script for Paramount Pictures' 1993 film Searching for Bobby Fischer (released in the United Kingdom as Innocent Moves ) 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 the 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). [11]
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. [12] He is also the spokesperson for the Chessmaster video game series, and is featured in the game giving advice and game analysis. [13] [14]
Waitzkin has a chapter giving advice in Tim Ferriss' book Tools of Titans .
As a young adult, Waitzkin's focus shifted to the martial art tai chi. He holds several US national medals and a 2004 world champion title in the competitive sport of tai chi pushing hands. [15] Waitzkin also became a championship coach, leading Grandmaster William C. C. Chen's US Pushing Hands Team to several titles at the Tai Chi World Cup in Taiwan, guiding teammates Jan Lucanus and Jan C. Childress to their world titles. [16] Waitzkin is also a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under world champion and Brazilian jiu-jitsu phenomenon Marcelo Garcia. [17] [18] Waitzkin is the co-founder of MGInAction.com and The Marcelo Garcia Academy, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu school located in New York City.
On April 23, 2010, Waitzkin married Desiree Cifre, [19] a screenwriter and former contestant on The Amazing Race .
Neijia is the collective name for the internal Chinese martial arts. It relates to those martial arts occupied with spiritual, mental or qi-related aspects, as opposed to an "external" approach focused on physiological aspects. The distinction dates to the 17th century, but its modern application is due to publications by Sun Lutang, dating to the period of 1915 to 1928. Neijing is developed by using neigong or "internal changes", contrasted with waigong or "external exercises".
Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting, and submission holds. BJJ focuses on taking ones opponent down to the ground, gaining a dominant position, and using a number of techniques to force them into submission via joint locks or chokeholds.
A game of chess can end in a draw by agreement. A player may offer a draw at any stage of a game; if the opponent accepts, the game is a draw. In some competitions, draws by agreement are restricted; for example draw offers may be subject to the discretion of the arbiter, or may be forbidden before move 30 or 40, or even forbidden altogether. The majority of draws in chess are by agreement.
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, Joan Allen, Ben Kingsley, and Laurence Fishburne, it is based on the life of prodigy chess player Joshua Waitzkin, played by Pomeranc, and adapted from the book of the same name by Joshua's father, Fred Waitzkin. The film was nominated for Best Cinematography in the 66th Academy Awards.
Joel Lawrence Benjamin is an American chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). In 1998, he was voted "Grandmaster of the Year" by the U.S. Chess Federation.
Submission wrestling, also known as submission grappling, submission fighting or simply grappling, is a competitive martial art and combat sport that focuses on ground fighting and submission techniques. It is a hybrid discipline that incorporates elements of various grappling arts such as various wrestling styles, judo, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Submission wrestling is practiced both as a competitive sport and as a training method for self-defence and mixed martial arts (MMA).
Fred Waitzkin is an American novelist and writer for The New York TimesSunday Magazine, New York, and Esquire. He graduated Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio in 1965, and lives in New York City and Martha's Vineyard.
Bruce Pandolfini is an American chess author, teacher, and coach. A USCF national master, he is generally considered to be America's most experienced chess teacher.
Several methods have been suggested for comparing the greatest chess players in history. There is agreement on a statistical system to rate the strengths of current players, called the Elo system, but disagreement about methods used to compare players from different generations who never competed against each other.
Robert James Fischer was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 11–0 score, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament. Qualifying for the 1972 World Championship, Fischer swept matches with Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen by 6–0 scores. After winning another qualifying match against Tigran Petrosian, Fischer won the title match against Boris Spassky of the USSR, in Reykjavík, Iceland. Publicized as a Cold War confrontation between the US and USSR, the match attracted more worldwide interest than any chess championship before or since.
Neigong, also spelled nei kung, neigung, or nae gong, refers to a series of internal changes that a practitioner goes through when following the path to Dao, and these changes may be achieved through practices including qigong or tai chi. Neigong is also associated with xingyi quan.
The American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) is a mixed martial arts gym based in San Jose, California. It is one of the pioneering schools of mixed martial arts (MMA). In 2014, AKA opened the AKA Thailand gym in Phuket, Thailand. Prominent trainers include Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master Leandro Vieira, Bob Cook, Derek Yuen, Javier Mendez, and Andy Fong. Within the facility, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling and Boxing classes are taught. Additional programs include conditioning and circuit training with TRX Suspension and Combat Circuit. The AKA is one of the top professional MMA training camps.
Tim Cartmell is a martial artist best known as an author and translator of martial arts books. He is an Eighth Degree Black Belt (Master) in Kung-Fu San Soo, and a Fourth Degree Black Belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Tim is an expert in Sun-style tai chi, including all three martial arts under the Sun system originally taught by founder Sun Lutang. They are tai chi, xingyiquan, and bagua. He started his martial arts career winning full-contact tournaments in Taiwan using xingyiquan. He placed first at the 2003 IBJJF Pan Championship as a brown belt, and first at the 2004 IBJJF Pan Championship as a black belt.
Chess became a source of inspiration in the arts in literature soon after the spread of the game to the Arab World and Europe in the Middle Ages. The earliest works of art centered on the game are miniatures in medieval manuscripts, as well as poems, which were often created with the purpose of describing the rules. After chess gained popularity in the 15th and 16th centuries, many works of art related to the game were created. One of the best-known, Marco Girolamo Vida's poem Scacchia ludus, written in 1527, made such an impression on the readers that it singlehandedly inspired other authors to create poems about chess.
Below is a list of events in chess in 1993, as well as the top ten FIDE rated chess players of that year.
Jeffrey William Sarwer is a Canadian-Finnish former child chess prodigy whose charismatic personality and chess talent made him a well-known media figure. His chess career and his family's unconventional lifestyle were the subjects of many articles and TV shows.
Wudangquan is a class of Chinese martial arts. In contemporary China, Chinese martial arts styles are generally classified into two major groups: Wudang (Wutang), named after the Wudang Mountains; and Shaolin, named after the Shaolin Monastery. Whereas Shaolin includes many martial art styles, Wudangquan includes only a few arts that use the focused mind to control the body. This typically encompasses tai chi, xingyiquan and baguazhang, but must also include bajiquan and Wudang Sword. Although the name Wudang distinguishes the skills, theories and applications of the internal arts from those of the Shaolin styles, these arts did not originate in the Wudang Mountains: the name Wudang comes from a popular Chinese legend that purports the genesis of tai chi and Wudang Sword by an immortal, Taoist hermit named Zhang Sanfeng who lived in the monasteries of Wudang Mountain. Wudang quan is often used synonymously with Neijia, but Neijia is a broader term that also encompasses Aikido and Qigong, which are not Wudang quan.
Jan Lucanus is an American comic book writer, filmmaker, martial artist, musical artist, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of the transmedia company Creative Impulse Entertainment, Inc., co-creator/co-writer of the mixed martial arts comic books series JFH: Justice For Hire, is a filmmaker, an international martial arts champion in both the full contact sport of sanshou and the sport of tai chi pushing hands, and is a rapper/singer/songwriter. Lucanus also consults on business, production, and creative strategies for companies and individuals across comics, film, television, music, and games. He is a graduate of the New York University Maurice Kanbar Institute for Film & Television, Tisch School of the Arts, holding a degree in Film Production.
Vladimir Pimonov is a Russian-born Danish journalist, author and literary scholar. As a journalist he is best known for his investigative reporting on the Soviet/Russian affairs. His literary research focuses on Shakespeare, classics, plot (narrative) theory and the concept of theatricality (metatheatre). His work is held in almost 100 major public and university library holdings around the world.
Suffrajitsu is a term used to describe the application of martial arts or self-defence techniques by members of the Women's Social and Political Union during 1913/14. The term derives from a portmanteau of suffragette and jiu-jitsu and was first coined by an anonymous English journalist during March 1914.
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