Subject of the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer", Josh Waitzkin was known to the chess world as a child prodigy. Did he reach the levels of Bobby Fischer? Absolutely not. Although he has won the US Junior Chess championship, he remains an international master, with USCF rating of 2525 that expired 2003-03-31. Could Josh have become a Grandmaster? Will he ever try again? According to a recent interview located here, Josh states a few interesting things. First, in regards to playing chess online, he says "I never liked playing on the Internet, because I always liked the feel of humans. I liked the psychological feel of my opponent, the drama of the game." The article ends with an ominous statement in regards to Josh's possible return to chess, stating "Waitzkin has no plans to return to professional chess or tai chi. Instead, he is tackling another sport, training for the 2011 World Championships of Brazilian jujitsu."
Hopefully one day he will return to competitive chess. I think it would be a great goal to work towards achieving Grandmaster distinction, especially after a few years absence from competitive play, and the chess world would benefit in many ways.
4 comments:
His lessons on the Chessmaster 10th edition software were excellent and I learned a ton from him. It is too bad competitive chess drove him away from the game.
I have heard a lot of good things about that software, I think I will pick up a copy next time I am in the city. Thanks for the comment Slatts!
I bought it for like $20, definately worth it in my opinion. Waitzkin's endgame course has REALLY been awesome. When I play online I am amazed at how often I turn a bad/lossing position into a win/draw because of proper endgame play alone (not that I'm an endgame wiz, I'm not)!
Cool blog btw!
Definitely going to pick it up then, sounds pretty good. I checked out some online reviews and they have been very positive. I think my son will really enjoy it too from the looks of what kinds of lessons it has.
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