I think not. Alcohol significantly reduces my ability to think, not just about chess, but about anything.
I have become somewhat of an alcoholic as of the past few months, and my rating has definitely suffered. I continued to advance slowly from 1300-1550, stayed at ~1550 for a while, but now that I drink all day every day it has been reduced down to to <=1500.
I will not comment on other drugs, but I do think alcohol is the worst substance for chess players.
Alcohol is complete shit. I do not drink a drop for 4 years. And I don't smoke 2 years.)) To improve your thinking abilities the best thing is strong black or green (no mater) tea)))
I drink champagne or gin all the time I am playing. It helps me.
It seems like only higher level players can drink and be okay (or even say that it helps)
Cyxapb, I agree about the tea. The combination of caffeine with the calming effects of theanine does seem to make my games better or at least sound.
Even some lower down players like me don't have effects from it... I think we are all different, that's all :)
Eh, it definitely doesn't help. When playing blitz with friends it can certainly make the experience even more enjoyable (in moderation, of course).
Past a certain point it certainly starts to hurt your game. I have a couple teetotaler friends against whom I normally score around 60%. If I'm drinking while playing a long session with them, my results stay consistent for a while, but after a few beers there's a definite drop in my results.
Of course, that's all just common sense. Alcohol's effects on cognitive function are well documented, and it definitely doesn't have a positive contribution. I know some people say it helps their results, but I remain skeptical until it is shown that some people have statistically significantly better results when drinking as compared to not drinking :)
Always for me. Sometimes I regret it, usually not.
fool pepole drink alchool in long time destroy brain same alkhin .
you lose lot of games even without drinking
I think it's a matter of "how much alcohol".
It's documented that a little amount of alcohol can improve creativity and lateral thinking since it inhibits some automatized courses of thinking, releasing in that way some other areas of the brain to do a contribution.
But, of course, we're talking about a LITTLE AMOUNT of alcohol. Maybe one glass of beers, or just one small cup of wine.
Further drinking would only slowly inhibit all sort of thinking abilities until you get sober again.
Remember the old greek philosopher word: "Poison is in the dose".
While playing chess... moderation is the key.