Page 159 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

penetrating focus. I was no longer bei ng go verned by self-pr otectivene ss and
fear, and so there was no disorienting anger. In time, I di scovered tha t ins tead

of being thrown off by the likes of Frank, I pl ayed my bes t against the m.
My next competitive experience with a dirty player was in the 2002 Pus h
Hands World Championship in Taiwan. Early in my first round of the
tournament, the Austrian representative, a noticeably unpleasant man,

delivered an entirely illegal and qui te painful upper cut to my gr oin. He was a
highly skilled martial artist and I was in a lot of pai n—but it was astoni shi ng
how his antics backfired. I smiled at hi m, and he cur sed at me. I felt no ange r,
just resolve. As the match continued , he kept on trying to get in my he ad in

every way imaginable. He went for my groin, tried to take out my kne e,
continued to attack well after the referee had called stoppag es. I di dn’t react
except to buckle down. Every dirty move made me jus t a little steelier, and
what was interesting was that the less his rage affected me, the more fl tered

he got. He became increasingly aggr essive. His failur e to get in my he ad
consumed him, made him crazy, and as he go t more and more he ated he lost
track of the technical side of the gam e and I pi cked apart hi s overextens ions .
This guy was used to rattling oppo nen ts with foul play, and by be ing

unmoved, I turned his tactics against hi m. He landed one cheap sho t, but I
knocked him out of the tournament .

*

Of course there is an array of emotions bey ond anger that can emerge in
pressured scenarios. Truly superb compet itive psychologi sts are fine ly attune d
to their diverse moods and to the creative potential born of them . The former

World Chess Champion Tigran Petrosian was kno wn by his rivals to ha ve a
peculiar way of handling this issue. When he was playing long matche s tha t
lasted over the course of weeks or even mont hs , he woul d begin each da y by
waking up and sitting quietly in his room for a period of introspe ction. His

goal was to observe his mood do wn to the fi t nuan ce. Was he feeling
nostalgic, energetic, cautious, dr eary, impas sioned , inspired, confident,
insecure? His next step was to build his game pl an around his mood. If he was
feeling cautious, quiet, not overwhel mingl y con t, he tended to cho ose an

opening that took fewer risks and led to a position that harmoni zed with hi s
disposition. If feeling energized, aggr essive, exceedingl y con t, he woul d