Adrenaline, Nervous Systems and Psychological Pressure

[Nick Burrows]

Whenever I play chess i'm unsure if it is a 'pleasurable' experience. Adrenaline courses through my body, I experience uncomfortable palpitations, feel twitchy and occasionally get a shaky hand. I often sit in my opponents time consciously trying to relax and ground myself in my body. However as soon as it's my move and become lost in thought and calculation, I begin to feel physically uncomfortable again.

I have been wondering about how much of this is 'fixed' and simply down to the way I am wired. The way my particular nervous system works. I have read about promising juniors such as Ponomariov and I think Karpov being written off from reaching the very highest levels due to their perceived weak constitutions and inability to cope with the high stress levels of top flight chess. I also seem to remember Leonard Barden writing about Korchnoi's robust nervous system. I wonder if this is part of his incredible longlivity in the game.

Adrenaline is released due to our body perceiving itself to be under threat and so preparing the body to either fight or flight. Psychologically, instead of thinking "my rook is under attack" we think "I am under attack". How to detach oneself from this perception?

This prolonged hormonal release over several hours can be extremely taxing and I personally feel exhausted and empty after a full day of chess. I have begun to experience a severe decline in the standard of my play towards the end of games. A feeling that my mind is swimming, which results in me being unable to calculate relatively simple calculations that with a clear mind I would find effortless.

I played a game on Monday against a strong player and reached an easily won position with approximate clock times of me 30 minutes, my opponent 4 minutes! All that was required was a few calm, simple calculations. I could not think straight and somehow lost the game. The 'pressure' was increased by my feeling exhausted, having spectators watching and my opponent blitzing his moves out.

I took the loss very badly. Enough to consider quitting the game entirely.

Is there anything to be done? How do I stay calm? Think with more detatchment? Have any other players struggled with this aspect of the game and what did they do?

[Michael Bennett]

Hi Nick,

I had this same problem when I came back to chess in 2008, after a long gap. After a few months of playing more regularly though, I was able to think a bit straighter at the board.

Some ideas:
- I wonder whether walking around from time to time would help to reduce the adrenaline in your system, by addressing the 'fight or flight' aspect?
- I remember to consciously breathe more deeply and slowly when I feel the adrenaline surge starting to happen. That definitely helps me.

[AustinElliott]

Some ideas:
- I wonder whether walking around from time to time would help to reduce the adrenaline in your system, by addressing the 'fight or flight' aspect?
- I remember to consciously breathe more deeply and slowly when I feel the adrenaline surge starting to happen. That definitely helps me.

I don't think walking will reduce the adrenaline levels in your body by 'using' them, but a bit of pacing about, if it helps you calm down, will hopefully reduce the amount of adrenaline your sympathetic (sic) nervous system is generating.

Anyway, both Michael's suggestions sound very sensible, and I reckon many players use them. A much rarer trick is to be able to 'tune out' noisy spectators, people kibitzing other games they've just finished, folk hovering over the board as the time control approaches etc etc. I dare say the sports psychology books offer various purported training tricks that are applicable, but I find this one a real challenge.

[Michael Bennett]

A much rarer trick is to be able to 'tune out' noisy spectators, people kibitzing other games they've just finished...

I remember the S&B blog recommended using ear-plugs for this, which seems like a sensible idea.

[Robert Stokes]

I find that I'm very much on edge a day or two before the start of a weekend congress. However, luckily it all disappears the moment the organiser says "Start white's clock".

Robert

[Johnathan Rothwell]

Hey Nick,

Does this sound like your experiences? :-

As we become uncomfortably stressed, distractions, difficulties, anxieties and negative thinking begin to crowd our minds. This is particularly the case where we look at our definition of stress, i.e. that it occurs when a person perceives that “demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.” These thoughts compete with performance of the task for our attentional capacity. Concentration suffers, and focus narrows as our brain becomes overloaded.

I got this from a quick search about performance pressure, there is a lot of information out there on this; many studies have been conducted, with a lot of research.

Other research has shown that stress reduces people’s ability to deal with large amounts of information. Both decision-making and creativity are impaired because people are unable to take account of all the information available. This inability accounts for the common observation that highly stressed people will persist in a course of action even when better alternatives are available. It also explains why anxious people perform best when they are put under little additional stress, while calm people may need additional pressure to produce a good performance.

I suggest you read up on anxiety and performance pressure. An interesting, although not particularly scientific book is: Think Like A Winner by Yehuda Shinar. The author has many achievements, amoung which include helping the England Rugby team win the world cup a few years ago.

Short term I'd suggest a break from the game for a short while and trying to concentrate on what you can control. In a way you cannot control the outcome of a match, or your rating, or the lighting, seating, or if there are spectators or not. All we can really do is decide which moves to make. Perhaps try to have a structured, systematic thinking process. Try searching for exeterchess - thinking.

Best of luck.

[Louise Sinclair]

I suggest that to calm the surge of adrenalin you avoid caffeine and other stimulants for several hours before you play. I also recommend drinking plenty of water during play and a quick refreshing trick is to go and wet the back of your neck, face and wrists - very calming and non sedative.
I would also recommend you have your thyroid checked.
Louise

[Niall Doran]

I also recommend drinking plenty of water during play and a quick refreshing trick is to go and wet the back of your neck, face and wrists - very calming and non sedative.

It can be quite tricky getting the hydration just right. I’m well aware of the importance of making sure one’s body is firing on all cylinders (sleep, fitness, nutrition, hydration…) so I try to drink the right amount of water during a game. However, due to nerves I end up constantly taking sips, thereby ending up needing a wee more often. This in turn leads to less time at the board, more chances of time trouble (already a big problem of mine) and more stress.

My frequent visits to the loo have even managed to (almost) get me in trouble. I was once playing a 10-year-old who was already as strong as me (ratings-wise) and who managed to outplay me in the opening, leading to a tricky middle game with lots of tactics. I was already low on time, so I was under a lot of stress. So lots of toilet visits. I could see that the player’s father was giving me dirty looks and at one stage disappeared into the arbiter’s office for a long spell, so I figured I was being accused of Pocket Fritzing.
Unfortunately I still had to keep using the facilities, so I just made sure the door was open when I did (no urinals available), should anyone need to have their suspicions allayed.
I managed to win in the end through my opponent’s lack of experience, and the following week I was chatting to the arbiter in another tournament when he confirmed that I had been accused. His response to the father had been to say that some players get nervous and need to go more often than others, and he saw no reason to investigate.

As an aside to any arbiters on the site, should the arbiter have investigated the matter, or was he correct in ignoring the father of the player? Would he have had to investigate if the player himself had complained?

[Robert Stokes]

This is somewhat similar (in reverse) to an experience of mine at the Sheffield congress about ten years ago. In one game my opponent left the hall very frequently, not quite after every one of his moves, but it felt like that. I mentioned it to the arbiter as I wondered whether he was repeatedly consulting a book or a friend.

The arbiter said he would investigate and next time followed him out. Later he told me that the player was a compulsive smoker and was leaving frequently to light up, have a couple of puffs, and then nip the end off until next time. I can't remember the result of the game.

Robert

[Andrew Varney]

I can very much identify re: the nerves. This is one major factor in me giving up chess for 30 years. As a junior I'd lose whole nights of sleep at congress weekends, etc. Nowadays I can still start to get nervous at least hours and sometimes even a day or so before a match or tournament. I drink loads of water and need to spend a lot of time away from the board. I get very tired, concentration wanes and I make big blunders. I think it's a very big factor in game outcome. In fact, if my position is worse I sometimes do better, perhaps because I relax very slightly and so can concentrate better. If I'm better but still not completely winning and relatively short of time I far too often make a big blunder.

[Louise Sinclair]

A modest daily dose of DHEA can do much to keep up the stamina yet not affect calmness. 25mg of micronized DHEA might be helpful - my husband has found it excellent for chess.
Louise

[John Upham]

My main problem is not during the game but attempting to sleep afterwards.

Never really found a solution to this other than replacing chess with table tennis.

I now sleep very easily, don't get headaches, have lost loads of weight, feel much fitter, have much more energy and look forward to evening league matches.

Also there is no bitching, the sportsmanship and friendliness is significantly improved and I've moved up two divisions in subsequent seasons.

[Louise Sinclair]

My main problem is not during the game but attempting to sleep afterwards.

Never really found a solution to this other than replacing chess with table tennis.

I now sleep very easily, don't get headaches, have lost loads of weight, feel much fitter, have much more energy and look forward to evening league matches.

Also there is no bitching, the sportsmanship and friendliness is significantly improved and I've moved up two divisions in subsequent seasons.

John
This sounds very positive but I doubt that players will all desert the game and take up table tennis.I found valerian used to be helpful after a game had left me awake.
Louise

[Ola Winfridsson]

Up to my early 30s I experienced similar problems, but only during the games (although I never seemed to have problems with my energy levels even if the games were long); the exhaustion afterwards, including tension headaches, stopped towards the end of my junior days. However, I noticed that these problems occurred less strongly and not as frequently when playing opponents stronger than myself, so identified this as 'fear of losing' (when playing a stronger opponent I had an "excuse" - he/she was better than me anyway).

I started reading up a bit on sports psychology in general, but also began looking for snippets of psychology in chess books (I found Rowson's 'Seven Deadly Chess-Sins' and 'Chess for Zebras' especially useful in this regard. In particular, how we keep telling ourselves stories before, during and after the games, and how this skews our subjectivity even further.), and started keeping two phrases in mind during the games:
1) The first one was a very obvious one, a quip by Boris Becker after he got knocked out in the first round of Wimbledon one year. 'Calm down, no one died out there, I just lost a tennis match.' to help me put things in perspective and remember that chess is just a game.
2) The second one is perhaps less straight-forward, but originated from something the Swedish high jumper Stefan Holm (gold medallist at Athens 2004) was taught by his sports psychologist in order to conquer his OCD caused by his constant fear of catching colds etc. at crucial events: "Well, you don't have to lick the lift buttons." This, for me, became a way of saying to myself, play on, but there's no need to go overboard trying to win. If it's a draw, it's a draw.

[Louise Sinclair]

The headaches are often caused by poor posture at the board - slumping for prolonged periods causes strain on the neck.
Louise