Joshua Waitzkin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Joshua Waitzkin |
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Joshua Waitzkin, 2005
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| Country | United States |
| Born | December 4, 1976 New York City |
| Title | International Master (1993) |
| FIDE rating | 2464 (July 2025) |
| Peak rating | 2480 (July 1998) |
Joshua Waitzkin (born December 4, 1976) is an American who was once a very talented chess player. He also became a world champion in martial arts. He is also an author. When he was a child, he was known as a chess prodigy. He won the U.S. Junior Chess championship twice. A movie called Searching for Bobby Fischer was made about his early life.
Early Life and Chess
When Joshua was six, he saw people playing chess in Washington Square Park in New York City. He loved the game right away. At seven, he started learning chess with his first teacher, Bruce Pandolfini.
Joshua went to Dalton. He helped his school team win seven national championships between third and ninth grades. He also won eight individual titles himself. In 1999, Waitzkin went to Columbia University to study philosophy.
When he was ten, Joshua played an amazing game where he gave up his queen and rook. This led to a checkmate (winning the game) just six moves later. At eleven, Joshua and another young talent, K. K. Karanja, played against the famous World Champion Garry Kasparov. They were the only two kids to get a draw (a tie) in that event.
At age 13, he earned the title of National Master. At age 16, he became an International Master. This is a very high title in chess.
Joshua stopped playing in official chess tournaments around 1999. He said he stopped because he "lost the love" for the game. He felt too much pressure to win all the time. This made it hard for him to enjoy exploring the art of chess.
Film About His Life
A movie called Searching for Bobby Fischer was made about Joshua's early life. It came out in 1993. The movie was based on a book written by his father, Fred Waitzkin.
Joshua himself made a small appearance in the film. He was 16 years old at the time. You can see him playing chess right next to the actor who played him in the movie.
Author
Joshua Waitzkin has written two books. His first book, Attacking Chess, came out in 1995. It shared aggressive strategies from his time as a chess champion.
His second book, The Art of Learning, was published in 2008. This book talks about how to learn and perform your best. It uses his experiences from both chess and martial arts. Joshua is also featured in the Chessmaster video game series. He gives advice and analyzes games in the game.
He also has a chapter with advice in Tim Ferriss' book Tools of Titans.
Martial Arts
As a young adult, Joshua started to focus on the martial art tai chi. He has won several national medals in the United States. In 2004, he became a world champion in a tai chi competition called pushing hands.
Waitzkin also became a successful coach. He helped his team win several titles at the Tai Chi World Cup in Taiwan. He guided his teammates to become world champions too.
Joshua is also a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He trained under the world champion Marcelo Garcia. Waitzkin helped start MGInAction.com and The Marcelo Garcia Academy. This is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu school in New York City.
Personal Life
On April 23, 2010, Joshua Waitzkin married Desiree Cifre. She is a screenwriter and was once a contestant on the TV show The Amazing Race.
See also
- List of Jewish chess players
- Searching for Bobby Fischer
