Unnerve an opponent?

How can you unnerve or intimidate an opponent?

Whatever you try it will usually backfire.  If your opponent thinks you're trying to intimidate him, he'll probably infer that you're insecure about your position (otherwise you wouldn't need to try to intimidate him).  So actually it will just make him more confident. 

In short, just play your best and leave the intimidation to the Ulitimate Fighting Community.

Exactly.  I loved the way Spassky would play.  You would never know from his expression if he found a mating line or was about to resign.  In addition, he always a gentlemen and respectful to his opponents.

I do use one strategy that I think will benefit a lot of people. 

Simply put: stare at your opponent as long as possible. They will feel uncomfortable and possibly blunder. once I was playing a player over 1900. They had a forced mate in 4 moves and I stared at them for a while, and they missed it, and in addition played a bad move which allowed me to save a draw. It's amazing how it works. 

Ride to the table on a motorcycle, do a few donuts, and rev it a couple times before taking a seat. Keep your helmet on during the game.

I think a helicopter would be much better for this purpose. Hover over the board and move your pieces with a robotic arm from the cockpit.

I was thinking a couple slugs to the kneecap would achieve the desired effect but this is maybe more subtle...

When your opponent makes his first move, spend at least 1 full minute carefully writing it down, in the neatest handwriting possible. Use an eraser at least 3 times, pretending to correct a stray pencil mark.

Append one or two question marks after every opponent move.

Stand right behind him while he is thinking, and clear your throat a few times. Snicker when he picks a piece up.

I remember one time in college I was playing a guy who kept bragging about how good he was back in highschool, so I replied that I used random piece movement.  He kept going on and on, and I kept telling him I only moved randomly.  Then I started acting like I was going to play any random piece before I'd actually move what I intended to all along.  Eventually he started believing that he was losing to random piece movement and it freaked him out.  Pretty funny.

I had a different match during a campus tournament where a guy was playing a guitar while playing me.  About 10 or 15 moves in, he exclaimed "What am I doing?!" and put away the guitar.  It wasn't working for him...

I can attest to fianchetto123's strategy of staring at a person.  It works wonders. 

Also, if you can pull it off, do all your planning on your opponent's turn and make your move immediately after they make theirs.  Really gets under peoples' skin. 

Keep on playing brilliant moves , they naturally start looking nervous after a while.

Eat double helpings of beans and sauerkraut an hour before the game and completely ignore the effects (aka the "blazing saddles" tactic; is Mel Brooks a chess player?)

Moving quickly subconsciously forces your opponent to move quickly, which makes him feel pressured. You can also frown at some of his moves, or whisper really long (bogus) calculations where he can't tell what you're saying, so he gets the idea that you see 15 moves ahead of him.

If you smile really wide and creepily during the whole match (or at least when you first meet him), that will definately spook him. 

Going down a wierd line is also intimidating (especially if it involves small pawn sacrifices--your opponent will wonder why you are giving away pawns for "free").

knew that one was coming sooner or later

So...is all of this the reason chess players are known for being strange people? I've never been to a chess tournament before and really don't intend to after reading this! I think you unnerved this opponent. lol

I've tried whispering the calculations. One amusing anecdote is that I played a miscalculated Greek gift sacrifice once in a French against a strong Class B player. He was trying to figure out whether to play Kg6 or Kg8. Kg8 lost and Kg6 was probably winning for him. I started whispering the calculation, audibly saying "Kg6" and then the rest under my breath. Then I said "Kg8" and began looking nervous. Guess what? Opponent played Kg8 and lost 3 moves later. :D

One option is to win the game.  (I presume you're talking about a game of chess.)

The best would be putting A4 papers on the match table where papers full of his/her past matches and games analysed by respected coach or by GM,IM. This is done by Botvinnik to Euwe not by papers of course :) Botvinnik wrote something like that: His (Euwe) nerves won't last, now he will offer me a queen exchange.

Is this good enough? 

http://www.demotivationalposters.net/loser-idiot-face-tattoo-demotivational-posters-139261.html

Keep in mind Zingo79 there are those who cannot be unnerved or intimidated.  These rare individuals are fearless to the last breath regardless of the apparent outcome of the duel.  Sometimes you can recognize them by that natural born killer look in their eyes.  And if you've got the look, you must be cautious not to unnerve and intimidate people by accident.