English Chess Forum

Since some of the clubs are in a pub or student building, some people drink alcohol while playing. I’ve got no problem with it have done it myself in the student days.

Does drinking a small amount of alcohol affect your play? Does it improve your play? What’s everyone experience with it especially in regard to matches.

Cheers

I tend to avoid it in congresses these days, but still usually have a beer with the game in the league (hard to walk into a pub and order a coke lol) I don’t think it will be helping my play, but I’ve not noticed a lot of difference. I find a pint or two perks me up after a day at work, so I suppose its chess with assistance of alcohol vs falling asleep at the board.

Obviously I stress a pint or two, I wouldn’t recommend having 6 before a game, though been there done that too

Some earlier discussion here:

Does your play improve with alcohol consumption?

In Russia alcohol was routinely used as human anti-freeze. The only time I'm aware that it was used like that in England was in a Bristol League match between Bristol & Clifton and South Bristol in the late 80's in the middle of winter. B&C used to play in a church hall (and had comfortably the strongest club in the South West).

At the time the church hall was undergoing renovation and had just some hanging plastic sheets to keep the cold out and no heating. The South Bristol captain, George Miller, introduced a new rule for the match. Every 6 moves you had to nip next door to the adjacent pub for a quick half pint. No, I don't remember the result, nor my result, but obviously we deserved to win and nobody froze to death

Does chess improve your drinking?

Steven DuCharme wrote:Does chess improve your drinking?

It probably increases drinking

there is a shot glass chess set you can buy

2 different rules. You can consume your opponants pieces as you take them, or you can consume your own as your opponant takes them haha.

the king should be pint sized.

Nigel short seems to like a glass or 2 of red wine.

Why on earth should it be difficult to buy a soft drink in a pub?

We certainly shouldn't expect people to drive to a venue, drink alcohol and drive away

I half-remember some anecdote (Tartakover) about a player feeling not too bad about a position, drinking a schnapps, seeing an attack, drinking a schnapps, playing the attack, drinking a schnapps, sacrificing a knight and so on ... of course he won in the end

You can buy them alright, they just tend to be a tad on the expensive side......

Pick carefully. I buy lemonade by the pint - keeps me going as long as a pint (perhaps longer) and is cheaper. Go for things in tiny bottles an I'd agree with you.