alcohol and chess

it is a proven fact that you should not drive when you are under the influence of alcohol.

But how well do a player play chess when under the influence of alcohol.

a delay of 2 seconds in the movements should not cause a problem like when driving a car.

Do any of you know how well you can play chess when drinking Vodka.

would a drunk GM be able to beat another sober GM on the same level or any other.

even if it might seem as a silly question I am curios enough to ask it.

Yeah, it's fun I guess... depends who you get to play with heh.  If you're determined to stay focused and play well then being drunk doesn't effect you a whole lot (although of course it's harder to calculate) like you said a delay in reaction time doesn't mean much, and of course your memory (for opening lines, pattern recognition) is all unaffected.  Depending on how much you've had to drink, the biggest obstacle would be slowing down and after finding a good move looking for a better one.

At most I'd think it coudln't drop you below your level of play in 1 minute games.

Of course I guess it depends on how much you've had to drink too... if you can't hardly walk, you won't be playing well GM or not

depends on how much u drink ;)

At a party once, one of my friends challenged me to a game of chess against a computer opponent. I was drunk but accepted the challenge and managed to beat the computer on the hardest difficulty available (probs rating of 1400). Though I won, I wasn't at the top level I could of been and realised upon analysis that I missed quicker victories. Alcohol impaired my ability to realise nuances in the position but my ability to still find a way to win was still present.

In a match between a sober gm and drunk gm with an equal rating, the sober gm should win as alcohol inhibits brain function but nonetheless it would be an interesting experiment to see how well the drunk GM would go against lower level opponents.

It would certainly be a different way to play a handicap match: instead of rook odds, you could have bottle of Merlot odds.  I threw away 150 rating points on this site when I played a game sozzled.

Makes sense of making a game even. Personally, I like playing shot chess where every time you take equivalent of 3 points you take a shot.

 LOL 

The only experience I have with alcohol and chess is when I was stationed in Germany ( Schweinfurt ) and I used to go to a cafe there where the German chess players often congregated to play blitz. They liked to play " for beer ". The loser would buy the winner a beer ( and usually one for himself as well ) and then you start another game, often changing opponents...... soon we were all drunk and having a great time ! It was a fun experience but I learned from it that I play worse the drunker I get and so did my opponents , BUT you soon reach a point where noone cares..... ! 

It definitely makes you play worse. I was at my IM friend's house a couple of weeks ago, drinking beer, and after we played some online poker he played a couple of blitz games to pass the time. He made a couple of mistakes and cursed that "you shouldn't play when you drink".

I think it may have something to do with the fact that alcohol removes your inhibitions. You may impulsively play more "creative" moves without rechecking whether or not they're sound. 'Course, if you get lucky, you might end up playing a brilliancy.

Sadly, I have had the disadvantage of playing sober I don't recommend it.

Pot- Fun, but I lose about half my games.

Painkillers- Nice, I play my best chess.

Besides caffeine, I don't do any type of speed-drugs, but I have played on adderall. The speed chess drug for sure. I've easily played over 40 games in one sitting, a few times, while on adderall.

Booze- I lose about 30% to 40% of my games. Not bad, in my opinion

Never played while drinking, but my best games have been when buzzed..!!

The very first time I drank hard liquor I was playing chess with my boyfriend at a small party. I drank about half a bottle of vodka in about 15 mins. I lost the game by default when I suddenly started knocking over all of the pieces. I don't remember much of the night after that but the next day I had my very first hang over :) So I can say from personal experience I do not play better drunk, at least not very drunk.

As for playing on weed (not that I would do that ;) ) I always make what seem like the most awesome moves ever only to realize later that I had hung a piece, usually my queen.

depends what kind of a drunk is he ... (relaxed, panicky, emotional, etc)

I'm sure most of you have seen this...

http://www.shotglasschess.com/

Definitely makes trading down to an endgame a risky proposition!

They don't play very well. I have never been drunk whilst playing chess but I did once play some one who was still drinking whilst playing. They didn't win 

It all depends on how much you drank.

Here a bottle of beer contains 600ml. The beer we usually drink is somewhat similar to a Budweiser light. I drink from 1 to 4 bottles. After the third one I simply can't play blitz without hanging pieces all over the board. I simply stop calculating at once and only play by intinct. Then I shut down the computer and go find something else to do....