Answers.Body: <p>The video in the original question featured Robert Sapolsky, also author of <em><a href="https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0805073698" rel="nofollow noreferrer" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers</a></em>, who famously has said that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrCVu25wQ5s#t=10m04s" rel="nofollow noreferrer">a grandmaster can burn 6000 calories in a day of chess</a>. I believe the following is from Sapolsky's book:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>The definitive study on chess players was carried out by the
  physiologist Leroy DuBeck and his graduate student Charlotte Leedy.
  They wired up chess players in order to measure their breathing rates,
  blood pressure, muscle contractions, and so on, and monitored the
  players before, during, and after major tournaments. They found
  tripling of breathing rates, muscle contractions, systolic blood
  pressures that soared to over 200—exactly the sort of thing seen in
  athletes during physical competition.</p>
  <p>See the original report, Leedy’s thesis, “The effects of tournament
  chess playing on selected physiological responses in players of
  varying aspirations and abilities” (Temple University, 1975) or their
  brief report (Leedy, C, and DuBeck, L., “Physiological changes during
  tournament chess,” Chess Life and Review [1971]: 708).</p>
  <p>In a telephone conversation, DuBeck also tells the story of the
  international match in the early 1970s between grand masters Bent
  Larson and Bobby Fischer, in which the former had to be given
  antihypertensive medication in the middle of his losing match; his
  blood pressure remained elevated for days afterward.</p>
  <p>The Kasparov-Karpov report is from the New York Times, 20 December
  1990. And for that special chess fan out there who just can’t get enough of this subject, may I suggest as the perfect gift a copy of
  Glezerov, V., and Sobol, E., “Hygienic evaluation of the changes in
  work capacity of young chess players during training,” Gigiena i
  Sanitariia 24 (1987), in the original Russian.</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>I got the above from <a href="https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/a/14174">Christoffer Torris Olsen's answer</a> to <a href="https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/7527/does-playing-chess-burn-as-many-calories-as-running">Does playing chess burn as many calories as running?</a> on [skeptics] Stack Exchange.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-05-01T11:34:39.250Z
Answers.Text: Fascinating. Looks like it varies a lot. E.g. a Super GM might beat down a GM without breaking a sweat, but two evenly matched opponents with very high stakes could be extremely stressful.
Answers.UserDisplayName: stevec
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-04-30T03:06:02.930Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2021-04-30T03:06:02.930Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Jim Ratliff
Answers.Body: <p>European Journal of Applied Physiology studied the physiological consequences of the tension caused by playing chess in 20 male chess players, by following heart rate, heart rate variability, and respiratory variables. We observed significant increase in the heart rate (75-86 beats/min), in the ratio low frequency (LF)/high frequency (HF) of heart rate variability (1.3-3.0) and also a decrease in mean heart rate variability with no changes in HF throughout the game. These results suggest a stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system with no changes in the parasympathetic system. The respiratory exchange ratio was rather elevated (over 0.89) at the start and significantly decreased during the game (0.75 at the end), indicating that energy expenditure progressively switched from carbohydrate to lipid oxidation. The changes in substrate oxidation and the sympathetic system seem to be due to high cognitive demands and bring new insight into adaptations to mental strain.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-04-28T07:07:02.963Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2021-04-28T07:07:02.963Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Abid
Body: <p>Chess is used as an example of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNnIGh9g6fA#t=37m03s" rel="noreferrer">how the body can be influenced purely by brain activity</a>:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>In the middle of a chess Grand Master tournament these people are maintaining blood pressure for 6 hours' running that you only see in a marathon runner</p>
  </blockquote>
  <blockquote>
  <p>These people are going through thousands of calories per day doing nothing more than thinking</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>and even that:</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>one of these chess Grand Masters who's just taken down an opponent ... has the exact same physiology as some ... baboon on the Savanna who's just ripped the stomach open of his rival!</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>Also note, it's mentioned <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSyMmleisQM#t=20m42s" rel="noreferrer">here</a> that Fischer was</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>built like an olympic athlete</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>In terms of heart rate, breathing, energy consumption ('calories'), and other biometric indicators, what are the typical <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiology" rel="noreferrer">physiological</a> responses of the human body to an important, high-level classical chess game?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-04-26T03:11:04.437Z
Comments.Text: To my knowledge a lot of the stress as well as energy expenditure happens away from the board too, so before and after the game as well. But very interested to find more precise answers.
Comments.UserDisplayName: koedem
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-04-26T10:29:45.433Z
Comments.Text: ...the obvious snag being each person reacts different, so an unpractical large sample might be needed to get meaningful answers.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Hauke Reddmann
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-04-27T06:26:56.433Z
Comments.Text: I think all those claims are very much exaggerations.
Comments.UserDisplayName: CognisMantis
Tags: <psychology><statistics>
Title: What is the physical response to a high level chess game?
ThreadText: # What is the physical response to a high level chess game?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2021-04-26)
  
  Chess is used as an example of [how the body can be influenced purely by brain activity](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNnIGh9g6fA#t=37m03s):
  
  > In the middle of a chess Grand Master tournament these people are maintaining blood pressure for 6 hours' running that you only see in a marathon runner
  
  > These people are going through thousands of calories per day doing nothing more than thinking
  
  and even that:
  
  > one of these chess Grand Masters who's just taken down an opponent ... has the exact same physiology as some ... baboon on the Savanna who's just ripped the stomach open of his rival!
  
  Also note, it's mentioned [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSyMmleisQM#t=20m42s) that Fischer was
  
  > built like an olympic athlete
  
  In terms of heart rate, breathing, energy consumption ('calories'), and other biometric indicators, what are the typical [physiological](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiology) responses of the human body to an important, high-level classical chess game?
  
  **Tags:** psychology, statistics
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: To my knowledge a lot of the stress as well as energy expenditure happens away from the board too, so before and after the game as well. But very interested to find more precise answers.  
  > **username_2**: ...the obvious snag being each person reacts different, so an unpractical large sample might be needed to get meaningful answers.  
  > **username_3**: I think all those claims are very much exaggerations.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2021-04-30. Score: 1 | Accepted answer
  
  The video in the original question featured Robert Sapolsky, also author of *[Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/0805073698)*, who famously has said that [a grandmaster can burn 6000 calories in a day of chess](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrCVu25wQ5s#t=10m04s). I believe the following is from Sapolsky's book:
  
  > The definitive study on chess players was carried out by the
  > physiologist Leroy DuBeck and his graduate student Charlotte Leedy.
  > They wired up chess players in order to measure their breathing rates,
  > blood pressure, muscle contractions, and so on, and monitored the
  > players before, during, and after major tournaments. They found
  > tripling of breathing rates, muscle contractions, systolic blood
  > pressures that soared to over 200—exactly the sort of thing seen in
  > athletes during physical competition.
  >
  > See the original report, Leedy’s thesis, “The effects of tournament
  > chess playing on selected physiological responses in players of
  > varying aspirations and abilities” (Temple University, 1975) or their
  > brief report (Leedy, C, and DuBeck, L., “Physiological changes during
  > tournament chess,” Chess Life and Review [1971]: 708).
  >
  > In a telephone conversation, DuBeck also tells the story of the
  > international match in the early 1970s between grand masters Bent
  > Larson and Bobby Fischer, in which the former had to be given
  > antihypertensive medication in the middle of his losing match; his
  > blood pressure remained elevated for days afterward.
  >
  > The Kasparov-Karpov report is from the New York Times, 20 December
  > 1990. And for that special chess fan out there who just can’t get enough of this subject, may I suggest as the perfect gift a copy of
  > Glezerov, V., and Sobol, E., “Hygienic evaluation of the changes in
  > work capacity of young chess players during training,” Gigiena i
  > Sanitariia 24 (1987), in the original Russian.
  
  I got the above from [Christoffer Torris Olsen's answer](https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/a/14174) to [Does playing chess burn as many calories as running?](https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/7527/does-playing-chess-burn-as-many-calories-as-running) on [skeptics] Stack Exchange.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Fascinating. Looks like it varies a lot. E.g. a Super GM might beat down a GM without breaking a sweat, but two evenly matched opponents with very high stakes could be extremely stressful.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_5 on 2021-04-28. Score: 2
  
  European Journal of Applied Physiology studied the physiological consequences of the tension caused by playing chess in 20 male chess players, by following heart rate, heart rate variability, and respiratory variables. We observed significant increase in the heart rate (75-86 beats/min), in the ratio low frequency (LF)/high frequency (HF) of heart rate variability (1.3-3.0) and also a decrease in mean heart rate variability with no changes in HF throughout the game. These results suggest a stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system with no changes in the parasympathetic system. The respiratory exchange ratio was rather elevated (over 0.89) at the start and significantly decreased during the game (0.75 at the end), indicating that energy expenditure progressively switched from carbohydrate to lipid oxidation. The changes in substrate oxidation and the sympathetic system seem to be due to high cognitive demands and bring new insight into adaptations to mental strain.
  
  
  ---
  
  