Joshua Waitzkin

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Joshua Waitzkin.jpg
Joshua Waitzkin, 2005
Association United StatesUnited States United States
Born December 4, 1976
New York City
title International champion (1993)
Current  Elo rating 2464 (August 2020)
Best Elo rating 2480 (July 1998)
Tab at the FIDE (English)

Joshua Waitzkin (born December 4, 1976 in New York City ) is an American chess player and Taijiquan athlete. At times he was considered the greatest chess talent in the USA since Bobby Fischer .

Life

At the age of 6 he discovered his passion for chess. His first teachers were players in a park in New York, later he was looked after by the well-known chess trainer Bruce Pandolfini . As an 11-year-old he scored a draw at a simultaneous event against the then world champion Garry Kasparov . He won several national championship titles for his respective age group in series and was already international champion at the age of 16 . His father, sports journalist Fred Waitzkin, wrote a book about him in 1988 that became a bestseller. In 1993 it was filmed by Paramount Pictures . The original title of the book and the film is Searching for Bobby Fischer , in German the film is called Das Königsspiel - A master is born . At the Junior World Championships in 1994, he finished fourth.

Waitzkin is also known for his chess lessons in chess programs in the Chessmaster series and wrote a book Josh Waitzkin's Attacking Chess (1995, ISBN 0-684-80250-3 ).

He has withdrawn from professional chess for some time, so that he was denied the title of grandmaster . His Elo rating has remained unchanged since January 2000 and is 2464, his highest rating of 2480 he reached in July 1998. Instead, he practiced the martial art Taijiquan and is even more successful in it than in chess. In addition to eight national championship titles, he also won the world middleweight championship.

In 2007 he published the book The Art of Learning ISBN 0-7432-7745-7 , in which he describes his experiences in chess and martial arts.

Game example

Kasparov – Waitzkin
  a b c d e f G H  
8th Chess --t45.svg Chess rdt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess kdt45.svg 8th
7th Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess bdt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess pdt45.svg 7th
6th Chess pdt45.svg Chess pdt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess pdt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg 6th
5 Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess pdt45.svg Chess plt45.svg Chess pdt45.svg Chess plt45.svg Chess rdt45.svg Chess --t45.svg 5
4th Chess plt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess blt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg 4th
3 Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess rlt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg 3
2 Chess --t45.svg Chess plt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess plt45.svg Chess plt45.svg 2
1 Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess rlt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess klt45.svg Chess --t45.svg 1
  a b c d e f G H  
Final position after 28.… Bd7

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In the following game, the 11-year-old Waitzkin scored a draw against world champion Kasparov with the black pieces in New York in 1988.

Kasparov – Waitzkin ½: ½
New York, 1988
Benoni Defense , A67
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. f4 Bg7 8. Bb5 + Nfd7 9. a4 0–0 10. Nf3 Na6 11. 0–0 Nc7 12. Bd3 a6 13. f5 Ne5 14. Nxe5 Bxe5 15. Qg4 Re8 16. Bh6 Kh8 17. Rf3 Rg8 18. Bf4 gxf5 19. Bxe5 + dxe5 20. Qh5 Qg5 21. Qxg5 Rxg5 22. exf5 b6 23. Be4 Rb8 24. Raf1 Ne8 25. Bd3 Nf6 26. Ne4 Nxe4 27. Bxe4 f6 28. Rc1 Bd7 ½: ½

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Waitzkin, Joshua
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Waitzkin, Josh
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American chess player and martial artist
DATE OF BIRTH 4th December 1976
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City