Searching for Bobby Fischer: The Father of a Prodigy Observes the World of Chess

by Fred Waitzkin

Overview

The father of a real american chess prodigy reflects on chess, competition, childhood, and his son's meteoric rise to the highest levels of global competition.

“[A] little gem of a book.” —The New York Times

Fred Waitzkin was smitten with chess during the historic Fischer-Spassky championship in 1972. When Fisher disappeared from public view, Waitzkin's interest waned—until his own son Josh emerged as a chess prodigy.

Searching for Bobby Fischer is the story of Fred Waitzkin and his son, 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, Waitzskin searches for the elusive Bobby Fischer, whose myth still dominates the chess world and profoundly affects Waitzkin’s dreams for his son.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780140230383
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/01/1993
Edition description:	Media Tie
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.04(w) x 7.71(h) x 0.64(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Fred Waitzkin, who fishes regularly in the Bahamas, is the author of Searching for Bobby Fischer and has written for The New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, and Motorboating and Sailing. He lives in New York City and Martha's Vineyard.

Editorial Reviews

"The quest is beautifully resoluved...in a contest that knits togethe all of the book's rich themes." —The New York Times

"A touching story of father and son. You don't have to know the game to enjoy every page." —Cleveland Amory, author of The Cat Who Came for Christmas

From the Publisher

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. (September)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

As the father of chess prodigy Josh, Waitzkin reveals here the psychological and emotional roller coaster experienced by every parent whose child rides through this world's certainty and doubt, its failures and successes in rapid succession. Waitzkin reveals the American chess scene from speed chess hustlers to formal tournaments, describes a visit to the USSRdiscussing the importance of chess there both for the game and for political endsand discusses the endless worldwide fascination with Bobby Fischer, the chess player and the person. Expect this book to be popular. Harold D. Shane, Baruch Coll. of CUNY

Library Journal