What happened to Josh Waitzkin?

But Jeff was Canadian. A Canadian hero? America was not ready for that. 

First off I am not anyone's fanboy, nor do I look toward any man for my spiritual guidance. Perhaps I should'nt state this, but I really don't understand all the demeaning, and belittling remarks about Waitzkin. I think he inspired people, and helped remove some of the negative views many Americans had about chess players. ( Especially when comparing him to Fischer).  I think he put chess in a positive light in the eyes of many Americans, which in my opinion is a good thing. It does not matter what title he held, he could have been a beginner for all I care.

One of my personal goals was to make chess more popular in America for decades, like better sponsorship, higher tournament prizes etc. because most professionals even today usually have to have another job or way to make a living. So anyone that helps chess accomplish this, gets applause from me.  Perhaps the people that can't stand Josh, have never read the story of simple Simon. Its a child's fable, but perhaps they should read it to learn the moral of the story.

People who would stereotype all chess players, based on the actions of one, are simple minded idiots anyway.

But he didnt play so we can´t say he could have become GM. Maybe he would have lost all further games and his rating would have dropped.

yes ofc 2400 is incredible good but maybe he got lucky and just quiting and still wanting to have a celebrity status is just too much. I mean why should he be a celebrity, thats what i dont understan?? it just doesnt get into my head ,its so unfair to all other strong players.

Josh was mass-marketed as a chess player by his father long before he could make an adult decision about his career. Let the guy be himself, for once.

For me, an interview with Josh Waitzkin was what brought me back to chess, so I have a soft spot for the guy.

I have no idea if he could have become a GM or not. Who cares? A lot of comments in this thread are very judgmental. Some of you seem to think that someone's skill and perseverance at chess is what constitutes a valuable individual. I, for one, admire his courage to switch to another area and become a master performer all over again.

I agree though, that the portrayal of Jeff Sarwer in the book/movie was unjust - I've read some interviews with him and he seems to be an amazing guy. (who BTW abandoned chess, as well) I think that the Waitzkins created a real marketing machine around Josh's story, and there is a lot of exaggeration and embelishment there, for sure.

And as to being jelous about his celebrity status: life isn't fair, get over it. Is Justin Bieber the greatest musician ever? Does he deserve his celebrity status? Or does Paris Hilton? Enough said.

He played, and studied for years after becoming an IM. If he could have made GM, he would have. Read his book, "Attacking Chess" and you'll know what I mean.

I just visited his website (link in the 1st page of this thread)

There is nothing I hate more in the world than these "new age, infomercial selling, vague/generic motivational speakers, self improvement types, with glossy websites and 1 line endorsments from other stupid glossy magazines and gurus"

"Peak performance training for business and financial elite"

LOL... I almost threw up.

He studies beautiful things like chess, martial arts etc and compares them to disgusting things like biz and finance.."   its so clear he is just selling out.. he has nothing left.

What kind of idiot buys these things?

I bet the seminars go like this :

"I went rockclimbing and played chess, and karate and I learned when I feel good and relaxed...... I perform REALLY well... so ye... chill, relax and it will all work.... oh ye also I studied those things day and night for over 10000 hrs"

I think he wanted to be known for his fearless attacks and deep understanding of the game.
but I think he realized he couldn't be the kind of GM he wanted to be therefore quit - he didn't want to be like Karpov. he blamed his coach for training him to think like Karpov and he wanted to be like Tal. I think he studied years to think like Tal instead of Karpov and realized it was to late to change.
in chessmaster the made a computer character GM Waitzkin he is rated 2978 known for "The Waitzkin-style is known for fearless attacks and deep understanding of the endgame."

A lot of assumptions here. Biz and finance are "disgusting"? I know a lot of people who find them fascinating and beautiful. I also know people who think that martial arts are for brainless brutes and associate chess with friendless sociopaths. Don't be a hater, man. We have enough of them.

biz/finance are disgusting...  flies of the marketplace.. they are simply about being a middle man and whacking at least 10% commission to everything by doing the smallest amount of work possible, sitting back and counting your money and finding ways to whack the consumers with more and cheat taxes.

Finance people, believe me Ive worked in 6 big investment banks, have absolutely no clue whats going on and cant predict anything as is evidenced by all the crashes and recessions and all their bogus reports etc.

Look around at the hoardes of people in offices... what good ever came out of an office??? (im serious, name 3 things)...  salesmen, advertisers, PR, HR, accountants, managers, realestate agents  etc etc etc   if all these dissapeared tomorrow the world would be a better place.

Business is people working 10hours a day in jobs they hate selling crap nobody needs so they can earn money to buy crap they dont need.

People like Isaac Newton, Leo Da Vinci, Galeleo, the great computer scientists, engineers, philosophers, scientists...... in short anyone that moved human progress ahead would NEVER have come from a biz background.

You've worked in six big investment banks? Doing what?

@Crazychessplaya Hating life, I guess. ;)

Generalisations like that are hard to refute... Of course, none of the people you named could have come from the biz background, as "the biz background" is maybe 200 years old. Befor the industrial era, wealth and power were based on land.

If you define business like you do, then obviously, no useful person can come from such a background. As you seem to ignore the fact there may exist people who work 10 hours a day but like their jobs, sell useful products, and increase their standard of living for the money they earn... well, I can't really argue with that. Think Thomas Edison - one of the most prolific inventors, who was also a brilliant businessman. But you are right! Lightbulbs are "crap nobody needs".

If I understand correctly, you propose that half the people in the developed world lose their jobs? Well... your wish may be granted, if the current crisis develops any further.

I dont consider Edison a "business"man he was an inventor.
Just like I wouldnt consider a farmer a businessman.. he has a trade/profession an honest living.

Business these days has the connotation of simply: middle men who rent space or put up a website and put x% commission onto something they didnt make. Or "professional finance" people playing with ridiculous derivatives or investing in things they have little idea about. Im in Aus.. here they often have sharemarket games in the newspapers, where you start with a virtual $10k and try to make the most of it.. always the dartboard (where the dart lands is what they invest in ie random) or a baby or dogs picks beats out the pro finance man. Or people who get MBAs and going into some completely unnecessary management positions. Or new age gurus selling feel good crap (like what the guy who is the topic of this thread). Look at salesmen.... why do we need them?? If a product is good why would you need to advertise it?? Does steak, fruit, light bulbs, need advertising? No. Just crap you dont need like an 300% overpriced perfume does.

The Donald Trumps, Richard Bransons will be forgotten within *1 generation!*, what have they done?? ... Edison has lived on. This is the diff between "businessman" and someone who is not.

Look at the farmer vs huge supermarket food chains.

The huge chains are typical of what I mean by "business". They sell the farmers short because the food chains have monopolies and huge power over farmers, hire temp workers on minumum wage, jack up prices on something they didnt make and squeeze out any small biz competition and keep huge profits after eliminating competition (with short blitzes of specials) hardly doing any actual work.

Also Im not suggesting those people *lose* their jobs... Im suggesting they go and do something actually *useful* ... science, tech, medicine, farming, etc

It seems you are an opponent of the effects of mass production. Sadly, steak, fruit and lightbulbs all need marketing nowadays. We live in a world where we produce more than we need, and we are fighting for the customers' money even when selling well needed products.

As to middlemen... Seriously? Every store is a middleman, selling things they didn't produce for a provision. Would you rather drive to an Osram factory for that lightbulb than buying it at the nearest mall?

As to the huge chains and bad worker treatment: i agree, it is bad. But it is not inherent to "business." The big and rich have always taken advantage of their "lesser man." Medieval serfs weren't exactly working for six figure salaries.

To sum up: I feel your pain. I have more knowledge of dishonest businessmen than I would care for. I just don't think that bashing a whole group of people is ever justified. The world is what it is, and it is somewhat presumptiuous to think you can fix it. The communists thought they could, for all the good it did the Eastern Bloc

Im against mass production of *rubbish*. Which seems very much what businesses are all about these days.
Walk into a shoe shop there are 300 varieties and *every year* they change the styles. Same with a mobile phone shop, same with a TV electronics shop... people buy them throw them out after 2 years..
Do we need a slightly new TV and mobile phone every year and do we need to buy them 50M from our house?

Walk into a grocery store 98% of the food there is junk sugary cereals, high fat, high carb rubbish.

All the energy (human and non human) that goes into it is *massive* and it is all waste. Production, transportation, marketing, selling onsite, and when people are done with it... the disposal/*rubbish* which no one ever thinks about.Yes this is disgusting.

Do we need all this crap in our lives?
Cant we enjoy a beautiful game like chess, rather than have 6 slightly newer game consoles each year with 560 games at home that we got bored of after 2weeks of play, which teams of 100s of programmers worked on for years, salesmen sold, produced millions of tonnes of plastic rubbish etc?

Do we really need to work 10hours a day so some idiot can have a slightly newer phone with some fancy luxury features that they will never use?

All this and not even to mention the whole finance game is just a giant casino... and we all know who is the winner at the casino.

Think people, please use your brains.

amazing how this thread can just go on and on.....

This shows just how inspirational Josh Waitzkin is ;)

Chess is hard to figure. As deep and as glorious as it is, the game has a human side. Perhaps the meteoric rise and subsequent tragedy that was Bobby had some influence on Josh. Unless you can walk a mile in the shoes of a true prodigy, and how many can honestly make that claim, then it's hard to judge Josh. You can admire his accomplishments, and wish him the best. I don't believe it's about the money. Only a few can understand the true cost the game exacts on such players. Theirs is the truest understand the game. Go figure.