Research results that chess players' mistakes increase when the air is polluted
Air pollution poses
Indoor Air Quality and Strategic Decision Making | Management Science
https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4643
Chess players face a tough foe: air pollution | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
https://news.mit.edu/2023/chess-players-tough-foe-air-pollution-0130
The Air Around You Affects How You Play Chess, Scientists Find : ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/the-air-around-you-affects-how-you-play-chess-scientists-find
Air pollution causes chess players to make more mistakes, study finds | Air pollution | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/02/air-pollution-causes-chess-players-to-make-bigger-mistakes-study-finds
PM2.5 (microparticulate matter) is fine particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less that float in the atmosphere, and is emitted by combustion such as automobile engines, coal-fired power plants, forest fires, and wood stoves. PM2.5 is so small that it can penetrate deep into the respiratory tract, so it is said to have a major adverse effect on the human body.
A research team led by Juan Palacios , a senior researcher at MIT's Sustainable Urbanization Lab , conducted research on three chess tournaments held in Germany from 2017 to 2019. rice field. In the study, a total of 121 chess players evaluated more than 30,000 hands in the game with a chess engine called Stockfish , and measured how close they were to the optimal hand. In addition, it seems that the temperature, carbon dioxide concentration, PM 2.5 concentration in the venue was measured with a sensor and compared with the player's error rate.
Analysis showed that PM2.5 concentrations in chess tournament venues ranged from 14 to 70 micrograms per cubic meter, comparable to the air in many urban areas. In addition, even after considering factors such as temperature, carbon dioxide concentration, and noise, it was found that an increase in PM2.5 concentration is related to an increase in the player's error rate.
According to the research team, when the PM2.5 concentration increased by 10 micrograms per cubic meter, the probability that the player made a mistake increased by 2.1 percentage points, and the deviation from the optimal hand also increased by 10.8%. is. “We found that when individuals were exposed to higher levels of air pollution, they made more and bigger mistakes,” said Palacious.
It has also been pointed out that the increase in the error rate due to the increase in PM2.5 concentration worsens as the player is pressed for time. Tournament rules required players to point about 40 hands within 110 minutes. From the 31st to 40th move, which is the final stage of the match, the error rate increased by 3.2% points when the PM2.5 density increased by 10 micrograms per cubic meter, and the deviation from the optimal move worsened by 17.3%. is reported.
``It's interesting how many mistakes caused by air pollution occur, especially when players face time pressure,'' said Palacious, noting that he doesn't have time to reflect to compensate for cognitive decline. suggested it may be related to increased error rates in the late game.
Professional chess players are already monitoring air quality, according to Leon Watson , spokesperson for Chess.com , an internet chess forum. 'Cognitive skills are very important in chess, and already top players like Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri understand how important air quality is,' Watson told The Guardian daily. I am.”
Palacious noted that while the study focused on chess players, if PM2.5 similarly harms cognitive performance in other settings, the scope of the effects is much broader. 'There are more and more papers showing that air pollution causes losses, and it is causing more and more people to lose,' he said.
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