What should chess players eat so as to maximize their performance? This is something that has intrigued strong chess players for many years, can eating well give them an edge?
The area in question is termed nutritional psychiatry, and has been the subject of a lot of research and numerous studies. A growing awareness of the importance of eating well has led to a number of basic guidelines.
The consensus is that refined sugars are not good for your brain, besides impairing the regulation of insulin they can promote inflammation, oxidative stress and worsen symptoms of mood disorders such as depression. As the brain burns through a lot of calories during a chess game, it should therefore derive these from complex carbohydrates that are found in various whole grain foods, legumes, vegetables and fruit.
Such foods also provide a source of tryptophan, which our brains can subsequently convert into the mood hormone serotonin. This then acts on various parts of the brain to promote obviously useful things such as sleep and memory.
This is a field that's well worth looking into, not least because it has real life benefits beyond playing better chess.
Training Tournaments
This week's training tournaments are in the Queen's Gambit Declined (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5), and now the Semi-Tarrasch (4.Nf3 c5 5.cxd5 Nxd5) and the Tartakower Variations (4.Bg5 Be7 5.Nf3 h6 6.Bh4 b6). These lines were covered in my series on the Black Queen's Gambit Declined Repertoire.
Sunday July 6th at 5pm UK Time: QGD Semi-Tarrasch
Sunday July 6th at 6.15pm UK Time: QGD Tartakower
Video Discounts
This week's discount is on my Black Queen's Gambit Declined Repertoire, you got 40% off its purchase (not rental) by using the code 'july4to12'. Based around the Queen's Gambit Declined Tartakower Variation, and the Semi-Tarrasch, it represents a straightforward but high quality repertoire against 1.d4 and Flank Openings.
Last week's discount was for Learning from the Greats: Aaron Nimzowitsch. Nimzowitsch was one of the most influential players and thinkers, who contributed new insights towards our understanding of chess strategy. To get 40% off, use the code 'june27july5' when you buy this series.
My Upcoming Events
There's nothing new from last week and I have a new project that I'll start work on from September. I will keep playing, but it will move down my list of priorities for a while.
Here is how things look now:
July 31 - August 10 2025: British Championships
As mentioned I've gone for the Championship itself rather than one of the old folks sections. Obviously this will be full of underrated juniors, I'll just have to play better against them this time! You can find details here.
August 23 - 30 2025: San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife
This looks like a great event and I'm really looking forward to it. Travelling back is a bit tricky because the direct flights were very expensive, finally I found a flight back to Glasgow from where I can take a train!
September 5-7: Hull 4NCL Congress
I'm a big fan of 4NCL Congresses because they are played in nice venues, they're invariably well organized and they offer free entry and accommodation to GMs. You can find details here:
I'll be looking for things after September, not sure when or where!
Chess Questions Answered
I'll just be posting my Chess Questions Answered videos on Tigerchess from here on, though I might be putting some of them on Youtube in due course. I don't think I'm cut out to be a streamer, for one thing I don't have time and for another I'm not beautiful enough!
Have a good weekend.
Nigel
