Struggling to come up with your next move? Maybe it should be reaching for your coffee mug.
Because it's official—studies have proven scientifically that caffeine helps improve people's chess performance. Here's a link to the study, published in the journal European Neuropsychopharmacology.
The study found that, after consuming caffeine, chess players made more thoughtful moves, and were less likely to make mistakes. The participants in the study played similarly better after consuming ritalin and modafinil.
The difference is that using those other two substances just to improve your chess game would be fairly illegal, and the divergence in performance levels between those performance-enhancing drugs and caffeine is fairly negligible.
We all pretty much knew this already. I mean, come on.
Caffeine is known to help to improve focus and alertness, so consuming it before or during a game focused on strategy should naturally give players an edge. (Does that make coffee a performance-enhancing drug for chess players?)
Still, it's always nice to have numbers in scientific journals to prove the things everyone can easily observe, to shut the #decafofcourse zealots up, if only for a few minutes.
So, if you're looking to up your game—including, but not limited to chess—make sure to drink plenty of coffee before your next match.
"But Jake," you're wondering—"Didn't you say scientific studies? With an s? I only see one link to a study."
Well, how about this less recent study, from 1933, that also found a performance increase of about 9%?
"But Jake"—you interrupt again—"Who cares about chess? Chess is for nerds, geeks, dorks, and dorks who put themselves in self imposed exile in Iceland and enjoy collecting German army memorabilia a bit too much."
Huh?
Oh, is that a reference to Bobby Fischer? Come on, how many people know enough about his later years to get that reference? They literally made a movie about trying to find him or something.
But to your point, you're absolutely correct—chess is for nerds. However, the type of performance boosts that happen in chess can be applied to other pastimes as well. Let alone other sorts of games (i.e. the video kind) centered around strategic thinking. You know, stuff like Command and Conquer, Starcraft, Sid Meier's Civilization XVIIVI, or that Fortnite shit everyone loves so damn much.
In fact, look—the study authors even said the same thing here:
"In conjunction with results from neuropsychological testing, we conclude that modifying effects of stimulants on complex cognitive tasks may in particular result from more reflective decision-making processes."
Okay, they may have said it using less outdated computer game references and profanity, but you get the picture.
And if you don't, here's a helpful analogy: Caffeine is sort of to chess as steroids are to, well, every other sport ever. Except totally legal, and without the hassles of exploding/shrinking body parts.
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Remember that when it comes to chess, there’s no gray area: only black and white. Coffee = good, and not just because it tastes delicious, and makes the world more tolerable.
So drink up, my friends. Your next victory in whatever it is you do just may depend on it.
