CHESS#1238

In pre-doping days, a certain world champion was rumoured to use stimulants to give him a zing

For years, chess doping was considered a joke. Smoking (tobacco) at the board was legal until the mid-1980s and using stimulants wasn’t illegal until 1999, when chess aligned with the International Olympic Committee. In pre-doping days, a certain world champion was rumoured to use stimulants to give him a chemical zing in long games. 

The drug tests cut and pasted the banned list from world anti-doping agency. This caused much amusement since steroids, for example, are utterly useless. But a new study indicates some of those banned drugs could be relevant (www.europeanneuropsychopharmacology.com/article/S0924-977X(17)30019-6/abstract). 

Three drugs were tested on 39 male players in double-blind trials. Players were dosed with placebos versus 2×200·mg modafinil, 2×20 mg methylphenidate, and 2×200 mg caffeine. Each played many rapid 15-minute games against the program, Fritz 12 (the program’s strength was adjusted down).  

Methylphenidate, (sold as Ritalin) is prescribed for attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Modafinil (“Provigil”) treats sleep disorders. Caffeine is an active ingredient in coffee and tea. WADA restricts caffeine intake and the other two drugs are banned. The study (italics mine) says “All three substances significantly increased average reflection time — resulting in a significantly increased number of games lost on time. When controlling for game duration as well as when excluding those games lost on time, both modafinil and methylphenidate enhanced chess performance by significantly higher scores in the remaining 2,876 games.  We conclude that modifying effects of stimulants on complex cognitive tasks may, in particular, result from more reflective decision making processes. When not under time pressure, such effects may result in enhanced performance. Yet, under time constraints more reflective decision making may not improve or even have detrimental effects on complex task performance.” 

Translation: Players thought longer when they used drugs. They lost a lot of games on time. But they scored better “under the influence” if time losses were excluded. Hence, in long games with classical time controls, the drugs may help — Ritalin 15 per cent, Provigil 13 per cent and caffeine 9 per cent. Many questions remain. How strong were the players? Were they “regulars” who know how to manage time? How did the study distinguish between “normal” time losses (common in rapids) and “abnormal” losses? But the study does present food for thought.  

The Diagram, BLACK TO PLAY, (White: Karjakin Vs Black: Adhiban, Tata Steel 2017) was an elegant finish from a new star. Black is better and Adhiban nailed it with 29.— Bb5! [Now 30. Qd2 f2 or 30. Kc2 Rc8+ 31. Kd2 Rxe3!] White responded 30.Rd4 Re4!  [ if 31. dxe4 Qxd4 32. Rxg6+ Kf7 33. h5 Qxe4+ wins] When white tried 31.Rxg6 Bxd3+! (0–1). 

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player