Learning Karpov from Kasparov

One key insight I took from The Art of Learning is the idea of "learning Karpov from Kasparov."



As a child chess prodigy, author Josh Waitzkin remembers a particularly harrowing transition in his chess career when he was tutored by a teacher who believed that there was a one-size-fits-all method of teaching chess. This teacher wanted to teach Josh the principles of resilience and stamina underlying a great grandmaster named Karpov's game, but ended up choking Josh's original chess personality in the process.



Anatoly Karpov was a chessmaster that played like an anaconda, who slowly suffocated his opponents in each game. Garry Kasparov, on the other hand, played fiercely and antagonistically, attacking his opponent with vigour. Josh's natural style was much closer to Kasparov's. Instead of learning the principles behind Karpov's techniques from playing like Karpov, Josh realized he could have learned them from playing like Kasparov -- and been much happier for it.



So, learning Karpov from Kasparov describes how, when learning something new, you should take the path that feels most natural to you. Because Josh felt more of a natural affinity for Kasparov, it was far likelier that he would find resonance with Kasparov's path than with Karpov's.



Armed with this knowledge, when I'm learning new principles now, I ask myself: how much natural resonance do I feel towards the person teaching me? If the answer is "not a lot," there is probably an alternate path I would be much happier taking.