Page 186 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

hard with a four-strike combination that scored at the bel l. Round one was a
tie, b arely.

The second round is always played with the left foot forward. Fo r some
reason my opponent’s structure di dn’t feel qui te as solid with the legs reversed
in the opening position. I began sinki ng deepl y on my attacks , playing with
feints, tight combinations, and misdi rection. I noticed that if I fake d in my

mind, without even moving, he felt it and respo nded . He was inc redi bl y
sensitive to intention, so I started unbal anci ng hi m with inv isibl e attacks tha t I
pulsed into but didn’t actually manifest phy sically. I was getting in hi s he ad.
He felt it and got aggressive, attacked hard, and blasted me away. But no w I

had him attacking, and I knew I had a deeper root. I started receiving hi s bl ows
and bouncing him off—won a bunch of point s. Then I made the mistake of
coming straight in and he threw me on the floor—t wo po int s. If I lowered the
sophistication of my game a hair, he des troyed me. He slipped into a zone and

attacked hard. We were even with thr ee seconds to go in the round. I upr ooted
him with a four-prong combination, most of whi ch di dn’t actua lly ha ppe n.
Then I took the next point at the bell with a h uge s urge and w on t he round.
Round three, right leg forward agai n, thi s was wher e he liked it, but me

too. We started trading points, back and forth, a war. My team was cha nt ing
Tiger, Tiger Buma Ye. (Bruce used to call me Tiger in the young chess days, and
it stuck.) The rest of the crowd was chanting in Mandar in. They loved hi m,
and I didn’t blame them. Then I no ticed a hole. He had found the solut ion to

my bear hug, trapping my right forward elbo w so I coul dn’t get out side of hi m
—but if I flashed my mind to the bear hug, in jamming it he ope ne d up hi s
armpit to inside pummeling techni ques . I started taking the unde rho ok and
tossing him left and right. Every point I was playing with invisibl e feint s

which he somehow felt, and then I expl oited hi s reactions . Trippy ide a. I was
using his crazy perceptiveness agai nst hi m. Fi nal ly I caught a thr ow whe re I
got the right underhook and cranked hi m all the way over and around me. He
hit the ground hard. In that moment I felt a wave of sorrow—l ike I ki lled the

last unicorn. The match ended and we hugged . I told hi m he was an
inspiration.

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