Josh Waitzkin

And it's just like, I knew it was a fucking train wreck. I mean, the kid obviously just was only choosing people to play who he could beat, wouldn't compete up in tournaments, would only play down. And he was the only kid who didn't want to play against me in the simul. And so his life was protecting this perfect thing, right? People who don't lose.

And it's just like, I knew it was a fucking train wreck. I mean, the kid obviously just was only choosing people to play who he could beat, wouldn't compete up in tournaments, would only play down. And he was the only kid who didn't want to play against me in the simul. And so his life was protecting this perfect thing, right? People who don't lose.

And it's just like, I knew it was a fucking train wreck. I mean, the kid obviously just was only choosing people to play who he could beat, wouldn't compete up in tournaments, would only play down. And he was the only kid who didn't want to play against me in the simul. And so his life was protecting this perfect thing, right? People who don't lose.

So in my chess life, the interesting thing that happened in my psychology is that I was the top-rated player for my age in the country from a young age, but I always played up. I always played against adults. Except for nationals and worlds, I played up. And all of my rivals were targeting me because I was the top seed in youth events. But their coaches were much stronger players than me.

So in my chess life, the interesting thing that happened in my psychology is that I was the top-rated player for my age in the country from a young age, but I always played up. I always played against adults. Except for nationals and worlds, I played up. And all of my rivals were targeting me because I was the top seed in youth events. But their coaches were much stronger players than me.

So in my chess life, the interesting thing that happened in my psychology is that I was the top-rated player for my age in the country from a young age, but I always played up. I always played against adults. Except for nationals and worlds, I played up. And all of my rivals were targeting me because I was the top seed in youth events. But their coaches were much stronger players than me.

They were adult international masters, grandmasters, and they could see all my weaknesses. Right. psychological, technical, everything. And so if I ever made a mistake, the weakness was exploited until I took it on. And so I developed from really young age this relationship to training, which was if I didn't take on my weakness, I got my ass kicked and I felt pain.

They were adult international masters, grandmasters, and they could see all my weaknesses. Right. psychological, technical, everything. And so if I ever made a mistake, the weakness was exploited until I took it on. And so I developed from really young age this relationship to training, which was if I didn't take on my weakness, I got my ass kicked and I felt pain.

They were adult international masters, grandmasters, and they could see all my weaknesses. Right. psychological, technical, everything. And so if I ever made a mistake, the weakness was exploited until I took it on. And so I developed from really young age this relationship to training, which was if I didn't take on my weakness, I got my ass kicked and I felt pain.

And so not taking on my weakness became outside of my conceptual scheme. So from age eight, I just – and it can be a blind spot. Like today in life, like a criticism of me that some loved ones would have is that I'm just – I'm always – I love training. I love pushing my limits as a way of life in whatever I'm doing.

And so not taking on my weakness became outside of my conceptual scheme. So from age eight, I just – and it can be a blind spot. Like today in life, like a criticism of me that some loved ones would have is that I'm just – I'm always – I love training. I love pushing my limits as a way of life in whatever I'm doing.

And so not taking on my weakness became outside of my conceptual scheme. So from age eight, I just – and it can be a blind spot. Like today in life, like a criticism of me that some loved ones would have is that I'm just – I'm always – I love training. I love pushing my limits as a way of life in whatever I'm doing.

If it was chess, if it was fighting, now it's foiling, surfing and then foiling in the biggest waves I can find. And like just if I'm playing at my edge, I feel – It feels beautiful. It feels like where I want to be. But the comfort zone doesn't feel beautiful. And to me, that works really well.

If it was chess, if it was fighting, now it's foiling, surfing and then foiling in the biggest waves I can find. And like just if I'm playing at my edge, I feel – It feels beautiful. It feels like where I want to be. But the comfort zone doesn't feel beautiful. And to me, that works really well.

If it was chess, if it was fighting, now it's foiling, surfing and then foiling in the biggest waves I can find. And like just if I'm playing at my edge, I feel – It feels beautiful. It feels like where I want to be. But the comfort zone doesn't feel beautiful. And to me, that works really well.

But it's a big part of my foundation in that was being 8 years old and being targeted 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, my whole life. And it wasn't until recently that I realized that it was actually outside of my conceptual scheme not to take on the weakness because it was just connected to pain from such a young age as a competitor.

But it's a big part of my foundation in that was being 8 years old and being targeted 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, my whole life. And it wasn't until recently that I realized that it was actually outside of my conceptual scheme not to take on the weakness because it was just connected to pain from such a young age as a competitor.

But it's a big part of my foundation in that was being 8 years old and being targeted 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, my whole life. And it wasn't until recently that I realized that it was actually outside of my conceptual scheme not to take on the weakness because it was just connected to pain from such a young age as a competitor.

There's no fucking luck in chess. If you're playing chess, if you have an opening repertoire that's massive and you go into a game and there's one little place that there's a weakness and you don't want your opponent to go, he always fucking finds it. You don't know why.

There's no fucking luck in chess. If you're playing chess, if you have an opening repertoire that's massive and you go into a game and there's one little place that there's a weakness and you don't want your opponent to go, he always fucking finds it. You don't know why.