Fred Waitzkin

Fred Waitzkin (born 1943 in Massachusetts) is an American novelist and writer for The New York Times Sunday Magazine, New York, and Esquire. He graduated Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio in 1965, and lives in New York City and Martha's Vineyard.

Waitzkin is the father of chess prodigy Joshua Waitzkin and wrote a book about his son called Searching for Bobby Fischer; he felt that Joshua could be a successor to Bobby Fischer. The book was praised by Grandmaster Nigel Short, as well as chess journalist Edward Winter, who called it "a delightful book" in which "the topics [are] treated with an acuity and grace that offer the reviewer something quotable on almost every page." Screenwriter and playwright Tom Stoppard called the book "well written" and "captivating". The book was made into the Academy Award-nominated namesake film (but released in the U.K. as Innocent Moves), with Joe Mantegna playing Joshua Waitzkin's father.