Chess, a well-known game of survival, which can actually drive you crazy! You don’t believe me? Well, I can promise you that the activity isn’t as “boring” and “stoic” as you might think. Actually, the seemingly harmless game has caused downfalls of many great and highly intelligent people. They tried their best to dominate the game, but have never fully recovered from the fact that even if they had studied non-stop, they never were able to understand the full complexity of the game and unlocked the knowledge that would have made them the “best of the best”.

It is almost absurd to believe that a simple board containing only 64 squares and 32 chess pieces can damage your brain to a point where you can’t even tell the difference between reality and your own “mind palace” in which the players anticipate the next three to six moves while replaying games that probably will cost deprive them of victory. And that’s all in their minds! So it isn’t surprising that being disoriented and lost in thoughts are not the only mental features that are recognized by the behaviour of the “obsessed artists”.

One of the best examples of this topic is the current chess world champion Magnus Carlsen, who has proven himself to remember every single game he has been shown, no matter if it has been his own game or a game he studied. But as astonishing as it was to see, nothing surprised me more than him identifying and knowing the exact position of the legendary chess game that had been played in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer Stone” in which Ronald Weasley had almost sacrificed himself to win the game.

As much as we can talk about craziness, we never really refer to average players but only to those who are or were at the very top. So does that mean that only highly intelligent people suffer from this intense game? Well, the answer isn’t as clear as you might think. Firstly, it is important to mention that those players are under constant stress. Not only because of strategic aspects but also because of mental games that are played off-board. Loud noises, abrupt movements, and intense stares are just some examples of tactics that are used to weaken the opponents by interrupting their thoughts and “driving them crazy”. Being constantly watched and caught off guard can cause constant paranoia, which was diagnosed in many players such as Bobby Fischer, who is argued to be the best chess player of all time.

Secondly, the best players are often, as prejudiced as it might sound, arrogant and overly obsessed with winning and dominating every aspect of their lives. Not only because they are used to being the best and winning almost every tournament they have participated in but also because they view the game as something very important and have intense feelings towards it that non-professionals commonly can’t understand. As a consequence, they are highly critical of people who don’t view the game as seriously as they do, and view the world as a constant and never-ending competition.

Yet after all the facts I’ve mentioned in this article, the craziness that is caused by chess has not been scientifically proven. Nonetheless, it is still a very common feature which is observed in the world of chess and is definitely worth being known of.

For those who are interested, there is a wonderful limited TV-series on Netflix called “The Queen’s Gambit” that follows Beth Harmon, a child prodigy who starts her journey in a male dominated world and faces difficulties on her way to become the best of the best.

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