Page 45 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

Champion of Qatar, there were thi rty minut es already off my clock—a large
disadvantage. To make matters worse, I didn’t recogni ze any pieces on the

chessboard. The untraditional chess set the Romanians had cho sen for the
tournament was completely bizarre to me. I was sitting in front of a ga me I ha d
never seen before—like one of my chi ldho od night mares wher e I coul dn’t
remember how to move the pieces and cameras were flashi ng in my face. The

moment was quite alarming.
It turns out that I handled the situat ion pr etty well. I took a few de ep
breaths, made my opening move, and pl ayed somewher e between bl indf old and
looking at the board. Chess was in my bl ood even if that set was no t. I moved

quickly to catch up on the clock, calculated in my head as I had do ne so often
in training, and won that first round witho ut much troubl e. Then I spe nt muc h
of the evening getting used to the ches s pieces and had an excellent tour na ment
over the next two weeks.

One of the more emotional movements in my young life came as I was
turning eleven years old and had to make the pai nful transition away from my
first teacher, Bruce Pandolfini. I loved Bruce, he was part of my family, but I
was improving quickly and he just wasn’t a strong enough pl ayer to ke ep on

coaching me. Bruce was a National Master who had n’t been active in
tournaments in years, and I was already appr oachi ng hi s level. We found a
wonderful new coach, Chilean International Master Victor Fr ias, who in time
would become a very dear friend of my family. Breaki ng from Bruc e felt like

losing a part of myself.
That same year, my father’s brutally ho nes t bo ok Searching for Bobby Fischer
was released around the world. It was a beaut iful ly written account of our
journey together during my rise to winni ng my first national title and years

later it would inspire the Paramount fi m of the same name. I was already well-
known in the chess world, but now I was really out ther e, whi ch put some extra
pressure on my shoulders. I went on all the television sho ws with my awkw ard
adolescent afro and goofy smile. Jane Paul ey on The Today Show asked me

whether I wanted to be like Bobby Fischer. Jus t then the mus ic started pl aying,
which meant I had five seconds to answer, and I knew Bobby Fischer was crazy
so I came out with the brilliant closer: “No, I nev er want to be like Bobby
Fischer, again.” Again? What is this kid talking abo ut ?

I was having a great time and was just inno cent eno ugh to avoid be ing
messed up by the spotlight. I dove deeper and deeper int o chess. Of cour se