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Fred Waitzkin
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Searching for Bobby Fischer: A Father's Story of Love and Ambition Kindle Edition

by Fred Waitzkin (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 310 ratings
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The inspiration for the iconic film, this memoir by the father of a prodigy reflects on chess, competition, and childhood.

Fred Waitzkin fell in love with chess during the Cold War–era showdown between Russian champion Boris Spassky and young American superstar Bobby Fischer. Twelve years later, Waitzkin’s own son, Joshua, discovered chess in Washington Square Park and began displaying the telltale signs of a prodigy. Soon, crowds gathered to watch the six-year-old, calling him a “Young Fischer.” An unstoppable player, little Josh was suddenly catapulted into the intense world of competitive chess. 
 
When Josh first sat down at a chessboard, he was a charming, rambunctious, rough-and-tumble child. Within weeks, he was playing the game with poise and constrained violence, as if there were a wise old man plotting moves inside him. Then, renowned coach Bruce Pandolfini discovered Josh in the park and began to refine the child’s game.
 
In Searching for Bobby Fischer, Waitzkin recounts his journey with his son into the world of chess, from the colorful milieu of street hustlers to the international network of grandmasters. Looming large over their story is the elusive Bobby Fischer, whose mysterious disappearance from the chess world created a vacuum that would profoundly affect young Josh and his dad.
 
Josh went on to win eight national championships before he turned twenty—but his achievements did not come without cost. In this memoir, Waitzkin explores his love and ambition for Josh, who faces pressures far beyond his years. Even as father and son travel to Moscow to watch Kasparov challenge Karpov, Waitzkin doubts his own motives: Is he pushing his son too hard? Is the game a joy to Josh, or is he just fulfilling his father’s wishes?
 
Searching for Bobby Fischer is about more than chess. “A little gem of a book,” it is ultimately about the struggle we all face to love our families and do right by them while also setting our own paths as individuals (The New York Times).

 
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  1. Print length
    242 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Open Road Media
  5. Publication date
    February 7, 2017
  6. File size
    5387 KB
  7. Page Flip
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  8. Word Wise
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Searching for Bobby Fischer is the story of Fred Waitzkin and his son Josh, from the moment six-year-old Josh first sits down at a chessboard until he competes for the national championship. Drawn into the insular, international network of chess, they must also navigate the difficult waters of their own relationship. All the while, Waitzkin wonders about and searches for the elusive Bobby Fischer, whose myth still dominates the chess world and profoundly affects Waitzkin's dreams for his son.

From Publishers Weekly

Ever since he started playing tournament chess at age seven, Josh Waitzkin, an athletic, fun-loving, not overly studious boy, has been among the top-rated players of his age group in the U.S. He is now 11. The troubled relationship between son and father, a talented but amateur chess buff, torn between ambitions for the prodigy and guilt at exploiting him, develops here against a background of chess clubs, seedy game parlors and Washington Square populated by a colorful gallery of Manhattan chess loversmasters, hustlers, Russian emigre teachers and doting parents. In marked contrast, notes the author, is the hero status of chess champions in Russia and the palatial setting of competitions like the Moscow Hall of Columns where he and his son attended the 1984 Karpov-Kasparov matches, which may have been not only state-supported but politically controlled, he contends. What, the author wonders, will become of Fischer's legacy of a promising generation of young American players following their idol's premature retirement from chess and society? First serial to the New York Times Magazine and Sports Illustrated; author tour.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01MTAM9GB
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media (February 7, 2017)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 7, 2017
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 5387 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 242 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 310 ratings

About the author

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Fred Waitzkin

Fred Waitzkin

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Fred Waitzkin was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1943. When he was a teenager he wavered between wanting to spend his life as a fisherman, Afro Cuban drummer or novelist. He went to Kenyon College and did graduate study at New York University. His work has appeared in Esquire, New York magazine, the New York Times Sunday Magazine, the New York Times Book Review, Outside, Sports Illustrated, Forbes, the Huffington Post, and the Daily Beast, among other publications. His memoir, Searching for Bobby Fischer, was made into a major motion picture released in 1993. His other books are Mortal Games, The Last Marlin, and The Dream Merchant. Recently, he has completed an original screenplay, The Rave. Waitzkin lives in Manhattan with his wife, Bonnie, and has two children, Josh and Katya, and two grandsons, Jack and Charlie. He spends as much time as possible on the bridge of his old boat, The Ebb Tide, trolling baits off distant islands with his family. His novel, Deep Water Blues, will be published in spring 2019.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
310 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Timothy Ha
5.0 out of 5 stars A humble story by a proud chess parent
Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2021
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This is a great and humble story by a proud and loving chess parent, Fred Waitzkin. As a captain of a local chess club and an active tournament player, I’ve seen many chess kids and parents. I have found some of my observations echoed here and though I’m not a chess parent myself, I’ll be recommending this book to the ones I know. The movie is also great but the book is so much better.
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Matthew Wall
4.0 out of 5 stars Classic that's a Better Investment than "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess"
Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2021
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I think it's fair to say this book has become a classic of sorts, as it has stood the test of time for over 30 years since it was first published. It's hard not to consider this as a companion to the movie -- which fixed some of the flaws in the book, believe it or not, while omitting some of the hardest-punching parts of it -- but I'll hold the comparison to the end of this review. As a standalone book, it still works well.

The basic story is fairly well-known: a father discovers his son has both the talent and interest to become a true chess prodigy, and the two of them navigate the world of competitive scholastic chess as well as the pressures of the "chess establishment" to groom young Josh into the next Bobby Fischer.

Along the way, Fred Waitzkin is fairly frank about his own misgivings and faults in the way chess takes over Josh's life, and the entire family's. Whether ultimately it's a healthy thing for the child or family or not is left up in the air; there is much to believe from the descriptions of other chess families that in many if not most cases, it is not. As such, this is as much a book about parenting as anything, especially interesting since it was published before Josh became US Junior champion -- on his ascendancy, as it were.

Reading this now in conjunction with Josh's own book written as an adult, "The Art of Learning", provides interesting book ends on the experience. The latter book focuses on both Josh' youth chess career, from the player's perspective, and his later successful career in Tai Chi. There's a sort of zen center suggested by Josh that isn't entirely successful in that book, but you do come out with the feeling that in the end, for Josh, everything worked out OK for him as an adult -- but probably because he walked away from chess before he reached his theoretical peak, and tried a transposition, as it were, to a different kind of life.

The book itself isn't framed around Fischer's biography quite as much as the movie's narrative voice over conceit, and the "Searching" part turns out not to be the Waitzkins' quest so much as shorthand for what the chess world -- and in some ways, America's go-it-alone, We-Are-the-Champions mindeset -- looks for when they see a talented young person.

Why on earth would you want to *be* the next Bobby Fischer, though? This is a general question the chess world has to figure out. Fischer was a great talent, but in looking at Magnus and the current generation, probably not as unique a one as has been made out in the media. But he was also a horrible person and had untreated mental illness that being the perceived Greatest of All Time in an insular world probably exacerbated. He's not what I would consider a role model for anyone.

What I do like about this book in re-reading it a few decades after it came out, having become a parent myself in the interim, is there's an elliptical answer: Searching for Bobby Fischer is like Waiting for Godot. When you step away from the quest unfinished, the quest is completed.

Now, on to the comment I made above about the movie fixing some flaws with the book. Bear in mind any Hollywood film is going to fictionalize and stereotype things and smooth out the story, so isn't "true" the way a solid journalistic (albeit biased) account like Fred Waitzkin's book is. (Bruce Pandolfini definitely seems to have been painted in the movie quite differently from what I understand he's like in real life; in the book he appears more like the harried but endearing absent-minded professor, Ben Kingsley's portrayal and the script in the movie make him seem like a darker, frustrated genius living vicariously through his pupils.) The book is episodic, and there are times when attempting to join up the material is a bit of a stretch. In particular, the long parts where Fred and Josh go to Russia seem digressive, like Fred pasted together a couple of articles, and the movie just skipped over that entirely, to its benefit. But where the movie really gets it right is in simplifying but outlining the pressures the desire for your child to excel and reach their potential can put on living a normal family life, being an actual family and not a unit that exists to propel a child to a podium. It does this by adding in composite characters, monkeying with actual tournament outcomes, and mixing first person narration with the traditional dramatic scenes. It is a blessing to Fred's original text in that it streamlines the takeaways, if omitting the details.

I do recommend the book still - as noted, I consider it a classic at this point - but just be aware it's a somewhat more meandering experience than the movie and doesn't have the neat loose ends tied up entirely. And if you have a child who's really good at something young -- it's really required reading in the parenting section, whether or not you have any interest in chess at all.
11 people found this helpful
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EEE
5.0 out of 5 stars Reigniting My Chess Obsession
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2021
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This is an amazing little book, about a fathers love, and a boy's achievements in chess at a level will beyond his years. I will never play that well, but I can appreciate someone else's skills. Fred Waitzkin tells the good, the bad, and the ugly of the chess world, the minimal support in the US, the old Soviet system, and the shenanigans of chess parents. It's a more complex story than offered us by the film, but touched the great in the same way.
4 people found this helpful
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PeteTuff
5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful, heart-warming story
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2011
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If you've seen the movie, the book is even better. More detailed in it's descriptions, plus you get to take a trip to Russia with Josh and his father. This book humanizes chess in a way I've never seen before.

I play chess, so perhaps I found the book more meaningful. But even if you don't play, this book will make you want to give it a shot.
8 people found this helpful
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J. Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2021
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Really good read about a father grappling with his conscience regarding raising his small child using just a single focus in his life. And a backstory regarding the relationship between two world power countries at that time in history.
3 people found this helpful
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Nathan W. Smith
3.0 out of 5 stars Half Good
Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2007
The coverage of the junior chess circuit and Washington square chess matches is compelling reading, but the chapters on the Soviet refusniks are too in depth and out of place.
3 people found this helpful
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Over taxed by Intuit
4.0 out of 5 stars Great movie for chess playing grandson
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2019
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Bought along with book to give to my 12-year old, chess playing grandson
2 people found this helpful
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Don Anderson
5.0 out of 5 stars If possible better than the movie
Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2021
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Thanks Fred for doing the impossible making, making a beautiful game an art. A chess player in my teens, this and the Queen s Gambit have got me pulling out the board again
2 people found this helpful
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Robert Agouri
5.0 out of 5 stars A story of father and son... and chess
Reviewed in Canada on September 21, 2017
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This was a wonderful read, though at times it did seem a bit of an anachronism, taking place in the mid-80s.
The book was not nearly as much about chess or politics to me as it was about parenting. What kind of parent would allow, never mind encourage their child to enter the hugely stress-inducing world of master chess?
The author discusses his struggles with this on several occasions in the book and it was the part that struck me as the core of their relationship. How do you encourage a gifted child to pursue their talent, knowing it would cause pain?
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Amazon カスタマー
5.0 out of 5 stars 英語版を読んでみたくて
Reviewed in Japan on October 14, 2018
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翻訳版も持っていますが、英語版を読んでみたくなりました。英語でも非常にわかりやすいです。購入して良かったと思いました。
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Larry
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 8, 2014
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A great story and an interesting incite into the world of chess. A very enjoyable read with a thrilling ending.
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ayakuf
4.0 out of 5 stars 事実は小説より奇なり。
Reviewed in Japan on December 19, 2010
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1972年、冷戦時代の代理戦争とも呼べるチェス世界チャンピオン決定戦。ボビー・フィッシャーが、ソ連のボリス・スパスキーを破りアメリカ中にチェス旋風を巻き起こした。物語が始まるのはその10年余のち。
フィッシャーの失踪とともにアメリカのチェス界が衰退の一途をたどる中、著者は息子のジョシュに類まれなチェスの才能を見出す――。

これはいわゆる自叙伝なのですが、小説としての体裁も整えつつ、ルポルタージュ色すら感じる作品です。息子や、息子を見守る自分に対しても常に一歩引いて、対象として淡々と描いていく筆致は当時のアメリカのチェスを取り巻く環境や、チェス大国ソ連の内情にまで及び、ただの親子のヒューマンドラマとは一味もふた味も違っています。陰謀渦巻く共産世界のあり様は一読の価値ありです。もちろん、神童の父親となってしまった著者の気持ちの変化なども興味深い。ラストシーンは実にカタルシスを感じました。

英語は難しい、というより、英語力はもちろんそれ以上に文化的背景の知識が相当要求されると感じました。著者のフレッド・ウェイツキンは雑誌のライターが本職で、ニューヨークタイムズなどで記事を書いておられるようなんですが、なるほど英語話者向けの新聞（タイムとか）読んでるようなかんじすらします。普通の日本人はまず知らないような固有名詞を使った比喩表現も多く、私はネットで調べながら読む羽目になりました。。。そのへんに自信がある方でないと気分良く読むのは難しいでしょう。とはいえ作品としてはとってもおもしろいです。上級者の方にはおすすめの一冊だと思います。
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Mr Phillip Emery
4.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected but not dissapointed.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2004
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Searching for Bobby Fisher is a good book. It would be misleading to say you dont have to know anything about chess to enjoy it. You would need to have a slight interest in the game to understand and feel the emotion attached to the chess side of the book.
Waitzkin delivers when talking about his realtionship with his son and cleverly makes examples of sports persons and their parents.
I watched the film first (Innocent Moves) which was an amazing 2 hour experience which I feel made the book more enjoyable than if i hadn't have seen the film.
It is well woth getting a copy of and can teach you some important issues on life and how people can get carried away with success.
I say take a look!
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