Food to eat and avoid Before, During and After Chess Tournaments

Food to avoid

Any type of food that may cause stomach upset such as

1. Contaminated food

Contaminated food introduces viruses, bacteria or parasites that can cause upset stomach, nausea, vomiting and fever. It is the cause of food poisoning. Always check out the eating places to ensure that it practices proper hygiene. Home cooked food is the best if preparation from home can be arranged.

2. Overeating and drinking

Eating too much can cause stomach indigestion or upset stomach. With “bowling ball” in the stomach, you will be too fuelled to focus. Make sure the stomach is not very full before and during tournament, or else the brain will work on the stomach instead of chess. The trick is not having so much (carbs) that you are sleepy. A full stomach will also be giving you problem to sleep or rest before tournament start.

3. Greasy, spicy or fatty food

can cause indigestion or upset stomach. Oily food takes 5-7 hours to digest in the stomach, and thus makes you feel tired.

4. Avoid bad Carbohydrates

“Good carbs” are high in fiber and they reduce toxins and regulate blood sugar and insulin.
The so-called “bad carbs” include

· baked goods,
· white bread,
· pasta,
· potatoes and
· soft drinks or
· candy with refined sugar;

the calories have little or no nutritional value. These foods have a high glycaemic index, leading to insulin resistance and adult-onset diabetes. Walter Willett, chairman of nutrition at Harvard’s School of Public Health, once declared, “Eating white potatoes or white bread is just like eating candy, as far as your body knows.”

5. Avoid caffeine when stomach is empty

The amount of suitable caffeine intake varies from one individual to another. You need to find your tolerance level, taking enough for stimulation and avoid too much that will make you jittery.

For optimal brain gain, regular tea breaks, as favoured in the UK, are more effective than a 20-ounce French roast sucked down at Starbucks. To maximize alertness and minimize jitters , frequent small doses—like a mug of low-caffeine tea or half a cup of coffee—rather than a one-time blast. A test conducted revealed that subjects reported that periodic small shots made them feel clearheaded and calm, both of which enhance mental performance.” He added that a small snack combined with caffeine may be the best approach.

Nutritionists suggest several snack options to maintain glucose and blood sugar levels during a game, especially protein-rich snacks like nuts, fruit, tuna and cottage cheese.

You need to be adequately nourished to have your neurotransmitters firing.

6. Lifestyle factors

Upset stomach can also be caused by lifestyle factors, such as:
eating too fast or eating on the run
emotional stress
smoking
too much alcohol or caffeine
travel (motion sickness)

Diet tips before and after chess tournament

1. Make sure the stomach is not very full before tournament, or else the brain will work on the stomach instead of chess. Too much carbohydrate food will make you feel sleepy.

2. Take lunch at least 2 or 3 hours before the tournament so that the food is close to fully digestion. Food needs 3 to 4 hours to digest. Avoid over stuffed your stomach with food until you have indigestion problem.

3. Before tournament starts, eat a small portion of carb (for energy during the tournament) and protein for the brain to work.

Kelly A. Hammer, a nutritionist and writer mentioned that “The carbs will help sustain the focus, while the protein will add to the needed nutrients for brain connections,” she explained. “Foods to eat before a long haul would be carbohydrates (veggies, grains, fruits, rice or potatoes) along with some protein—eggs, peanut butter, chicken, nuts, soy and yogurts are good examples. Carbs alone won’t cut it.”

Food to consume before and after chess tournament

1. Fish oil. If the brain could ask for a last meal it would choose one high in fish oils. Heidi Skolnik, the New York Giants team nutritionist recommends three servings of fish oil per week. “Consistency is a big issue,” Skolnik said, “If you are inconsistent with your eating, you are more likely to become inconsistent with your concentration.”

2. Food enriched with Vitamin B1, B6 and B12.

3. Healthy balance diet

Food to take during tournament

A chess player’s intake during and between games is arguably more important than during his training period. Short-term factors like blood-sugar levels and hydration begin to have a greater impact over brain performance. You need to be adequately nourished to have your neurotransmitters firing. Take small bites during a competition to avoid having too much blood lost to digestion but also to avoid becoming famished after a competition, when people are likely to overeat for the next meal.


1. Water

As with fish oils, nutritionists are equally unanimous in recommending water as the best source of hydration during a game. Not drinking enough increases the prevalence of fatigue, headaches and low blood-pressure, all of which can negatively affect performance.

2. Nuts, Fruit, Tuna, Cottage Cheese

Nutritionists suggest several snack options to maintain glucose and blood sugar levels during a game, especially protein-rich snacks like nuts, fruit (banana, apple), tuna, cottage cheese, and surprisingly, beef jerky. Protein consumption is linked to brain activity. Proteins stabilize the blood sugars and therefore keep the brain functioning efficiently and evenly. Examples of food recommended :

· sandwich of tuna or
· chicken salad or
· natural peanut butter on whole grain bread,
· cheese sticks,
· fruit and
· almonds, walnuts, cashews or pistachios.

3. Vitamin B1, B6 and B12

Tiger Woods, perhaps the most focused athlete of his generation, is certainly in tune with what his body needed. In his book, How I Play Golf, Woods writes at length and with specificity about his dietary habits, touting the benefits of vitamin supplements B1, B6 and B12, which are rapidly depleted during periods of tension and stress—pitiable conditions golfers and chess players share. Woods claims B-vitamins have been shown to improve accuracy in pistol shooting competitions, a sport that closely rivals chess in its mental component.

Vitamins B-1, B-6 and B-12 works to support one’s body metabolism and helps the body to produce essential substances, such as neurotransmitters and red blood cells. Your body needs a regular supply of all three vitamins, but they're available from a variety of foods so deficiencies are seldom a problem.

· Vitamin B-1, or thiamin, helps your body convert food into energy. Your brain depends on vitamin B-1 to metabolize glucose, and your nerves need it to function properly. Women need 1.1 milligrams and men should get 1.2 milligrams of vitamin B-1 daily.

· Vitamin B-6 actives enzymes responsible for producing energy, neurotransmitters, red blood cells and white blood cells that support the immune system.

· Your body needs vitamin B-12 to make neurotransmitters, hemoglobin and DNA. It also lowers your levels of homocysteine, but in a different way than vitamin B-6. Vitamin B-12 helps convert homocysteine into S-adenosylmethionine, or SAMe, which is essential for the synthesis of hemoglobin and vitamins. SAMe is used to treat osteoarthritis and depression and may help relieve pain from fibromyalgia. The recommended daily intake for vitamin B-12 is 2.4 micrograms for men and women.

Food that are rich in Vitamin B1 :
- cereals made from whole grains
- roasted ham
- pork chops
- brown rice
- lentils
- peas
- beans such as navy, black, pinto, lima and kidney beans

Food that are rich in Vitamin B6 :
- Tuna
- salmon
- poultry
- beef
- potatoes
- spinach
- bananas
- fortified breakfast cereals

Food that are rich in Vitamin B12 :
- enriched cereals
- animal-based foods, such as fish, chicken, beef, milk, cheese and yogurt.

Food for Chess Kids

A chess mom, Taylor-Brill, prepared an array of high-protein foods to eat between rounds. Open his lunch box and you will likely see hard-boiled eggs or a salmon-salad sandwich. To satisfy his sweet tooth, she adds pumpkin bread or a lemon square. “Those are the staples,” she said. “Then I usually add an ethnic flair at lunch just for fun.” Dig a little deeper and you might find edamame and a sushi roll one day, or hummus and tabbouleh the next. She will also arm her son with ham, cheese and grape kabobs to take to his board. For out of town tournaments, he leaves with his chess set and a cooler of food.

“There is no question that Seth can play a longer, more focused game if he eats well,” Taylor-Brill said.

Healthy food will provide his brain the energy it needs to do the hard work of chess. The real advantage to bringing your own food to those major tournaments is that you will have much more time to rest between matches because time is not wasted on hunting around for food and waiting in lines. Rest seems to be the only antidote to the stress they endure and getting that extra rest and relaxation definitely allows Seth to play better in subsequent rounds.”

Nutritionists have also weighed in on some stress-busting foods for children that get nervous before or during matches. Skolnik said carbs have serotonin which can relax the body and ease jitters, but over-consumption can dim alertness. Foods high in potassium like bananas are thought to be helpful, as well as comfort foods, which can be made healthy. She gave the example of pasta, with shrimp and broccoli added. Skolnik said some research suggests vitamin vB6 may also help calm a child. In addition, some people take melatonin supplements as a way of getting to sleep after a stressful day of king hunting.

Professional Perspectives on Chess Player’s Diet

Baglione’s research, the first of its kind, included the responses of 72 active grandmasters (GMs) and woman grandmasters (WGMs) from all over the world. No GMs responded that they took fish oils or vitamin B12 and only one took ginseng (though Skolnik said research is inconclusive as to its mental benefits). Less than one-third said they took other vitamins, minerals or protein supplements. Only two sought professional nutrition advice. One in seven smoked cigarettes and the most popular mid-game snack was chocolate. Most focused on not overeating before games.

Scott Hagwood, the only American Grand Master of Memory (who is also past United States National Memory Champion) has the ability to memorize more than 800 numbers in sequence in one hour. Hagwood said he does not follow any dietary guidelines before or during competitions. Like Fedorowicz, he focuses more on getting a good night’s sleep.