Josh Waitzkin's resignation from competitive chess

I have read the book and I find no wrong on his actions. It took his several years to become the champ of his division.

I completely agree with the second paragraph, but not with the first one. We live in a sick world full of with sad children, that's for sure, but comparing coming into life as an experiment and practically being directly shaped as part of it by your parents, with being abused some way or another by your parents isn't a logical argument, imo. 

Talent isn't just a myth. Some people have more than others.

 I'm aware of that, but I just learned this game because I heard it supposed to improve your concentration. I'm not trying to go anywhere with it.

Anyone who calls this guy a liar.....is lost......and completely wrong.....if you read his book or check his learning materials on Chessmaster software or wach interviews , youll see that this guy does nothing but claim a love and passion for the game, assault and question his own successes....and evolve into a crtical  understanding and even a passion for examining loss and disappointment....a thing that people in this culture often find taboo and too difficult to assess.....we play to learn and the more we learn....the more we win....not just on the boards , but in life.....instead of just celebrating past glory and success..and becoming a relic...to your earlier quote..i find it interesting as he did stop for those very reasons....competition for its own sake and because of a momentary loss of vigor for the game....this by the way is nothing unusual as pro athletes experience "burn out" all the time...at least he understood and took action...the proof is all there with Josh and he has my highest respect as teacher and fearless competitor....in chess....in martial arts....and in life....i offer this as refutation sir and with respect to your opinions....

Waitzkin  have also said that a movie about him made him a celebrity..Where ever he goes to play a lot of people would come to cheer for him.He told this sparked a thought in his mind that he is no longer playing for the love of his game but for the joy of his fans.He couldn't play the 'JOSH CHESS' which was all he needed..So his heart was drifted away from competitive chess..But he still loves chess and teaches a lot of poeple..even If he is not the next fischer he surely is the next bruce pandolfini..

If he played still he would probably be around 2700, you never know, he was certainly was talented but maybe he just couldnt handle it.

What makes you think he would probably be around 2700? Reaching that level is extremely difficult for even the most talented players. He is the greatest chess teacher I ever saw, but chess-level-wise he was just a promising teen at first, and then just another IM among thousands. Maybe, just maybe, he had the potential to get there, but the same could be said for thousands of other IMs who simply couldn't.

 I agree. I hate to sound like a broken record, but once again, I read his 1995 book "Attacking Chess" written when he still had high hopes of getting there. I would bet my life, if he could have, he would have.  

It is unfathomable and depressing to my 1000-level mind that a 2480 didn't have the "talent" to become a GM.  Is chess a completely different game for a 2480 versus a 2550?   It is also hard to believe that Josh "stopped" loving the game (still working for Chessmaster, right?) suddenly.  

But I think this "hype" thing simply stems from the fact that Josh was, in fact, the number 1 junior for so many years, so why didn't he suddenly have what it takes to make the natural continuation to GM whereas many other contemporary "inferior" players who were ranked behind him became GM's?  Did they show more talent in their inferiorly played contemporaneous games?

It is not like Josh was "middle of the pack" among the "master" junior players and was among the "mediocre" talents that couldn't make it to GM-level...he was number one, a champion and top-level performer for many years as a junior...so what the hell happened?  

Also, in chess, unlike in other professions (medicine, law, engineering, accounting, etc), your training is no different than your "career" and you are working the same "job" description whether you are a talented junior, expert, master, international master, or grandmaster studying daily and competing regularly in tournaments...e.g. there are no surprises about what you are doing, what you have to do to get there, and what will be different once you get there (unlike in the other professions where you really don't know what the jobs are like until you actually start working (e.g. medicine- may not seem like it is about "helping" people when one is imbued with paperwork, litiginous patients, or business-like corporate administrators; engineering- may feel one's technical creative genius is being exploited by the big business folk; accounting- the scapegoat, etc.)

So it is hard to believe Josh's own story which gives the impression that, as an IM in his twenties, he "suddenly realized" one day that being a GM required- wtf?- sounder attacks and more solid positional/endgame/defensive skills?!  Had he never studied GM games before?  Geez, what a grand conspiracy by those around him for so many years to cloud his fragile IM-level mind from ever realizing that these other skills were necessary for becoming a GM!  

I guess when he got better at Tai Chi and became one with the universe or whatever, he must have escaped the spells he was under and realized, "oh crap, I only like to trap opponents, but that won't net me 20 more rating points to be GM, which I so badly want to the point of spending 20 years several hours daily of my life trying to achieve, but whatever, f--- Karpov, I'm done."   Just doesn't add up.

Maybe Josh realized there is more to life than chess.

 thats not true sometimes people leave chess for other persuits that interest them more. josh is a good example,  Patrick Wolf is another example.

 Josh studied for nine nine years after he became an IM, and didn't make GM. Patric Wolf who did make GM, at least was man enough to admit he didn't have the talent to become WC. I quote not exactly. "After I coached Anand I realized I was good, but I would never be that good." He stated that he still loved chess, but couldn't devote all his time to it anymore because of his business.

Josh still studies chess, however he has only twice played in a series tourny since persuing Tai Chi.  what wolff said about his ability was more along the lines of "there is  no garrentee that i could be world champ, and if i did it would probably take years and there may not be a lot of money along the way." and he continued to say, "as much as i love chess I love money even more and in chess there is no promise of money."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/crosswords/chess/13chess.html  "I realized I was good, but I was never going to get to that level."

Tai chi is a physical game and josh is in his 30s..soon enough he will be too old enough to compete in martial arts.Then he might return to chess even if as a full time coach..

there is something your all missing chessmaster is the highest selling chess program globally if memory serves and to put that into perspective if he even gets 10% of the profits for being the spokesman that is on par with if not substantially more income than becoming world champion but I can assure you it is far more than 10% so that may be part of why his loss of love for the game caused him to quit even becomming world champion not worth it living comfy  with just the chessmaster revenue and lack of aspirations also kills enjoyment as I recall on top of chessmaster "the art of learning book" is a must read in any competitive discipline so the revenue from that also funds him

I dunno why this thread got dragged up from the past BUT "Tai Chi" is not what most people call a physical game and it certainly isn't a martial art. That said, I could kick your butt at it

Dunno, but "Tai Chi" sounds like a tea to me.