Page 19 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

I insisted on some bad habits I had learned in the par k—f or exampl e,
bringing out my queen early. This is a typi cal beginner ’s error: the que en is the

most powerful piece on the chessbo ard so peopl e want to bring he r int o the
action right away. Against unskilled oppo nen ts who can’t parry simpl e attacks ,
this strategy works marvelously. The pr obl em is that since the que en canno t be
traded for any of the opponent’s pieces witho ut signi fi loss, she can be

chased all over the board while the other guy natur ally brings his less valua bl e
but quite potent warriors into play and simul taneous ly swats aside the
primitive threats of the lone queen. Logi cal eno ugh, but I resisted be caus e I
had won so many early games with a wander ing queen. Bruc e coul dn’t

convince me with words—he had to pr ove it.
Bruce decided we should have kno ck-do wn dr ag-out speed chess matche s
like the ones I was used to in the park. When ever I made a fundam ent al error,
he would mention the principle I had violated. If I refused to budge , he ’d

proceed to take advantage of the error unt il my po sition fell apar t. Over time,
Bruce earned my respect as I saw the correctnes s of hi s ideas . My que en started
to wait until the moment was right . I learned to dev elop my pi eces, to cont rol
the center, t o prepare attacks systematically.

Once he had won my trust, Bruce taught me by allowing me to expr ess
myself. The main obstacle to overcome was my impet uo sity. I was a talent ed
kid with good instincts who had been beat ing up on street hus tlers who lacke d
classical training. Now it was time to slow me do wn and prope rly arm my

intuition, but Bruce had a fine line to tread. He had to teach me to be more
disciplined without dampening my love for chess or suppr essing my na tur al
voice. Many teachers have no feel for thi s bal ance and try to force the ir stude nt s
into cookie-cutter molds. I have run int o qui te a few egomaniacal ins truc tors

like this over the years and hav e come to bel ieve that thei r metho d is
profoundly destructive for students in the long run—i n any case, it certainl y
would not have worked with me.
I’m sure I was a tough kid to teach. My parents raised a willful chi ld. Even

as a young boy I was encouraged to take par t in the spi rited dinne r pa rty
debates about art and politics in my family’s living room. I was taught to
express my opinion and to think abo ut the ideas of other s—no t to follow
authority blindly. Fortunately, Bruce’s educat ional phi losophy fi my cha racter

perfectly. He didn’t present himself as omni scient , and he han dl ed hi mself as