He landed on cheap shot, but I knocked him out of the tournament. - Joshua Waitzkin

My chess rivals were taking lessons, competing at every weekend tournament, while I was on a boat crashing through big waves. But I would come back with new ideas and a full tank of energy and determination. The ocean has always healed me…

But as with all skills, the most sophisticated techniques tend to have their foundation in the simplest of principles.

Of course there were plateaus, periods when my results leveled off while I internalized the information necessary for my next growth spurt,