English Chess Forum

Are there any superstitions in chess? I can't think of any but I just watched something on someone with triskaidekaphobia (fear of 13) and wondered if that person played chess they would be afraid of making their thirteenth move presumably. SInce certain superstitions are embedded within certain cultures, I would imagine there are some which have crept into the game somewhere but I assume that in England we don't have any, well I don't recall ever encountering any...

I think there could be a lot but it depends on your definition of superstition. Players might have a 'lucky' or favourite pen to record the scores, flask and cup for their drinks, particular clothes .... even the way they move the pieces or where they place the captured pieces.

There's a link here to some interesting stuff:

https://www.chess.com/article/view/supe ... haircut%21

Yes I suppose luck and superstition are hard to seperate, I was thinking more along the lines of spiritual stuff like chess clubs next to graveyards will be visited by ghosts or something.

I'm not sure if it counts but in the early 90s in the league I used to play in most teams were within the county borders but one or two were not Many players from within the county believed that when they played away to a team outside the county borders they would return home with a black eye if they declined a draw offer.

No they didn't

Well there was an incident in Northampton once but it was well before my time but it may have been nothing more than a running joke that if you decline draw offers in Northampton you come home with a black eye. Perhaps in the bar after the game something happened once, as mentioned it was about ten years before my time but I was told to never decline an offer of a draw in Northampton in my teens.

MJMcCready wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 11:24 am

it may have been nothing more than a running joke that if you decline draw offers in Northampton you come home with a black eye

"may have been"

It's a long time ago and I was a teenager...

Never happened is a very long time ago indeed

"Lucky" pens are certainly a thing, as is discarding them when you do actually lose a game.

Wasn't Karpov said to have an aversion to washing his hair during a match?

The Channel 4 coverage of the 1993 match made a bit of a thing about 13 being Kasparov's lucky number.

IM Jack Rudd wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 2:22 pm

The Channel 4 coverage of the 1993 match made a bit of a thing about 13 being Kasparov's lucky number.

The only thing I ever remember them talking about was the chairs both players were sitting on. From memory alone, I think Shorts chair was some sort of antique costing either 2 or 3 thousand pounds whereas Kasparov's was very modern and even had wheels.