Page 69 - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin_Neat plip book

Then he devises an individualized training progr am that systematically de epe ns
the student’s knowledge of chess whi le nur tur ing hi s or her nat ur al gi fts.

Mark Dvoretsky, on the other hand, has created a compr ehensive traini ng
system that he believes all students sho ul d fit into. His metho d whe n worki ng
with a pupil is to break the student down rather brut ally and then stuf f hi m or
her into the cookie-cutter mold of his training system. In my opi ni on thi s

approach can have profoundly negative cons equen ces for spi rited young
students.
During the critical period of my chess career following the release of the
film Searching for Bobby Fischer, there was a disagreement about what di rection

my study should take. On one side was Dvoretsky and his protégé , my ful l
time coach, who believed I should immerse myself in the study of pr ophy laxis,
the art of playing chess like an anaconda. Great pr ophy lactic pl ayers, like
Karpov and Petrosian, seem to sense thei r oppo nen t’s intention. The y

systematically cinch down the pressur e, squeezi ng every last br eath of life out
of their prey while preventing any aggr essive attempt bef ore it even be gi ns to
materialize. They are counterpunchers by natur e and they tend to be qui et,
calculating, rather introverted personal ities. On the other side of the argume nt

was Yuri Razuvaev, who insisted that I sho ul d cont inue to nur tur e my natural
voice as a chess player. Razuvaev believed that I was a gifted attacki ng pl ayer
who should not be bullied away from my strengt hs . Ther e was no que stion tha t
I needed to learn more about Karpo v’s type of ches s to make the ne xt steps in

my development, but Razuvaev po int ed out that I coul d learn Karpo v from
Kasparov.
This was a delicate and rather mystical-feeling idea, and I wish I ha d
possessed the sophistication as a sixteen- year-old bo y to see its po wer. On one

level, Razuvaev’s point was that the gr eat attacki ng players all po ssess ke en
understanding of positional chess, and the way for someone like myself to study
high-level positional chess is to study the way the great pl ayers of my nature
have integrated this element of the art. An interesting parallel woul d be to

consider a lifetime rock guitarist who wants to learn abo ut classical mus ic. Le t’s
say there are two possible guides for him in thi s educat ional pr ocess. One is an
esoteric classical composer who has never tho ught much of the “vul ga rity of
rock and roll,” and another is a fellow rocker who fell in love with classical

music years ago and decided to dedi cate his life to thi s di fferent gen re of mus ic.
The ex-rocker might touch a common nerve whi le the compo ser might feel like