Josh Waitzkin

Even no matter how much we love the battle, some piece of ourselves wants a way out. Like we want to release the tension. It's just elemental to who we are when we're living with that much pressure. So all I have to do then is like accept the draw, shake hands. And the tournament's over and then it's out of our hands what happens. So in that moment, I have to also make a critical chess position.

So the urge to release the tension is subtly entering into my chess decision. And in that move, I declined the draw and I made a slightly overaggressive move. which turned and he ended up playing a beautiful game, big attack, beating me. I lose the world championship. Just this close to like your dream. You're shattered, right?

So the urge to release the tension is subtly entering into my chess decision. And in that move, I declined the draw and I made a slightly overaggressive move. which turned and he ended up playing a beautiful game, big attack, beating me. I lose the world championship. Just this close to like your dream. You're shattered, right?

So the urge to release the tension is subtly entering into my chess decision. And in that move, I declined the draw and I made a slightly overaggressive move. which turned and he ended up playing a beautiful game, big attack, beating me. I lose the world championship. Just this close to like your dream. You're shattered, right?

I then went and hitchhiked across Eastern Europe to meet my girlfriend at the time in a little town in Slovenia and we broke up and ended up meeting again in a street corner in Brazil, the world under 21 championship three weeks later. lots of drama, you know, being a 17 year old kid. I didn't study that chess loss for two and a half months. It was so painful to me.

I then went and hitchhiked across Eastern Europe to meet my girlfriend at the time in a little town in Slovenia and we broke up and ended up meeting again in a street corner in Brazil, the world under 21 championship three weeks later. lots of drama, you know, being a 17 year old kid. I didn't study that chess loss for two and a half months. It was so painful to me.

I then went and hitchhiked across Eastern Europe to meet my girlfriend at the time in a little town in Slovenia and we broke up and ended up meeting again in a street corner in Brazil, the world under 21 championship three weeks later. lots of drama, you know, being a 17 year old kid. I didn't study that chess loss for two and a half months. It was so painful to me.

I always studied games immediately afterwards. And I always, you might study a chess game for anywhere between three and 15 hours studying one chess game. And that's that say 10 hours is focused on the two or three critical positions of the game. And this was before chess computers were rampant and you had chess engines that could always just tell you the answer to, um,

I always studied games immediately afterwards. And I always, you might study a chess game for anywhere between three and 15 hours studying one chess game. And that's that say 10 hours is focused on the two or three critical positions of the game. And this was before chess computers were rampant and you had chess engines that could always just tell you the answer to, um,

I always studied games immediately afterwards. And I always, you might study a chess game for anywhere between three and 15 hours studying one chess game. And that's that say 10 hours is focused on the two or three critical positions of the game. And this was before chess computers were rampant and you had chess engines that could always just tell you the answer to, um,

That's also something we should talk about later, how chess engines and AI chess engines change the nature of who chess players are because you can have the answer right away versus having to sit in cognitive and emotional dissonance for sometimes weeks or months at a time without knowing the answer. But we'll come back to that maybe. So I didn't study that loss for –

That's also something we should talk about later, how chess engines and AI chess engines change the nature of who chess players are because you can have the answer right away versus having to sit in cognitive and emotional dissonance for sometimes weeks or months at a time without knowing the answer. But we'll come back to that maybe. So I didn't study that loss for –

That's also something we should talk about later, how chess engines and AI chess engines change the nature of who chess players are because you can have the answer right away versus having to sit in cognitive and emotional dissonance for sometimes weeks or months at a time without knowing the answer. But we'll come back to that maybe. So I didn't study that loss for –

two and a half months because it was so painful to me. Then I was, my family spent a lot of time at sea, which was an interesting part of my life and my chess life, living on a little boat, catching our own food, doing our own engine work. And I was at sea after competing in both of those world championships and some other things. And I sat down to study that game.

two and a half months because it was so painful to me. Then I was, my family spent a lot of time at sea, which was an interesting part of my life and my chess life, living on a little boat, catching our own food, doing our own engine work. And I was at sea after competing in both of those world championships and some other things. And I sat down to study that game.

two and a half months because it was so painful to me. Then I was, my family spent a lot of time at sea, which was an interesting part of my life and my chess life, living on a little boat, catching our own food, doing our own engine work. And I was at sea after competing in both of those world championships and some other things. And I sat down to study that game.

And I spent, you know, dozen plus hours studying that one critical position of the game. And then I realized what the Like the move I should have made was outside of my conceptual scheme in that critical position. I wasn't ready to make the move I had to make. And he was also, I think, a slightly stronger chess player than me. I was a great fighter. I loved the battle.

And I spent, you know, dozen plus hours studying that one critical position of the game. And then I realized what the Like the move I should have made was outside of my conceptual scheme in that critical position. I wasn't ready to make the move I had to make. And he was also, I think, a slightly stronger chess player than me. I was a great fighter. I loved the battle.

And I spent, you know, dozen plus hours studying that one critical position of the game. And then I realized what the Like the move I should have made was outside of my conceptual scheme in that critical position. I wasn't ready to make the move I had to make. And he was also, I think, a slightly stronger chess player than me. I was a great fighter. I loved the battle.

But I think objectively, he was a better... His name is Peter Svidler. He ended up becoming a world-class grandmaster and is just an incredible chess player today. At the time, he was just amazingly brilliant, beautiful, fluid mind. But I was confident going into the game. So I had to make this move...