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The whole issue
of a distinction between physical and “mind sports” came into being
when FIDE President, H.E., Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, decided to pursue
recognition from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) This singular act established Chess as a “sport”. The next question for everyone, including FIDE, was what kind of sport is Chess? At the time this was transpiring, I was Chairman of the Medical Commission for FIRS, the World Governing Body for Roller Sports, my own competitive sports event. My mandate was expiring, and I was looking around. I was friendly with a close associate of Mr. Ilyumzhinov’s, and let him know that “now that the IOC has recognized you, you will need a Medical Commission”. They laughed. About one year later I got a call. It seems that the IOC didn’t think it was funny at all, but insisted that if Chess was indeed a sport, eligible for IOC inclusion, then it had to be treated like every other sport. This meant that our “athletes” would be expected to pee in a cup.
For starters, we were confronted with two basic cases. Those substances which were already banned or regulated by the IOC Medical Commission (now handled by WADA), we’ll call class “A” substances, like amphetamines, EPO, cocaine, and yes, caffeine; and those substances not regulated by the IOC regulations, but which could, in fact affect mental performance, which we’ll refer to as class “B” substances.
Under IOC rules, among the numerous substances banned outright, caffeine was simply regulated. It was always thus for physical sports, but it raised a hue and cry among chess players, whose pastime had developed over a thousand years, as a coffee-house event. We were forced to provide charts defining exactly how much caffeine was in the various products available, and to give advice showing by sex and weight how this might affect testing. In short, we giving a guide to how to use a regulated substance, but this was a special case.
The last category of substances, is the “B” group we talked about earlier. In this category are things, mostly not scientifically proven to benefit mental performance, like Gingko Biloba. One world record holder was really concerned that we could ban its use. However, once again applying the standards; a. is it detrimental to health?; and b. can it give an advantage over those not using it? In this case, the IOC does not yet ban its use in any sense at all, and the answer to question “a” is no, thus for this reason alone it probably should not be banned. There are still lots of drugs which could help Chess players cheat. But the bottom line is it IS cheating. Just between us, I really don’t give a hoot about the idiot who is so desperate to win that s/he will jeopardize his/her own health for the sake of a medal. It’s that this moron’s winning and the next one’s too, result in a system in which MY child has to use these substances if s/he wants to be able to compete on a level paying field, and THAT is what I cannot tolerate. So let’s all use good common sense and support the attempt to maintain the rules of fair play, so we can all enjoy this sport of intellectual kings and queens for another thousand years, and someday maybe see an Olympic medal in Chess. -
Dr. Stephen J. Press
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Initially, many people, I assume
even those in the IOC, thought this not a little strange, though a
necessary evil, if you will. But when we started to actually look at
what the issues really were, and whether any of this actually made sense,
we quickly found it did! Based on available medical literature,
there was no question but that certain substances could, in fact augment
mental performance, or at least had the potential to do so.
To really comprehend the mentality
of the IOC, and now WADA, one has to understand the history of drug
use in sport. At the 1960 Summer Games, in Rome, a cyclist died of
an overdose of amphetamines, and from the resultant uproar the IOC Medical
Commission was born under the leadership of the Prince Alexander de Merode
of Belgium. The rationale behind banning of a substance is
reasonable and fairly simple to understand. If an otherwise healthy
person can take a substance which is potentially detrimental to his/her
health, and that allows him/her to improve performance over those not
willing to expose themselves to this poison, then this is both foolhardy,
and clearly cheating. Thus, the war on drug use in sport. This
means that if someone is ill, like Lance Armstrong taking EPO legally when
he had cancer, they can continue to compete while taking otherwise banned
substances (with a waiver), on the premise that it only give them the
opportunity to function normally, and not better than others.
Still there were those who thought
the whole matter absurd. Jay Leno, on the eve of my speech to the
USCF in Massachusetts, when I appeared for FIDE to explain the new rules,
gave his monologue about my speech, talking about all the Chess players
“bulking up on steroids” to move those heavy pieces around. Funny
stuff? On the surface it looked like it. But it turned out that a study
done in Leipzig, East Germany, before the reunification, showed that Chess
players who were trained physically, like other athletes, were better
enabled to deal with the dreaded “last hour syndrome” which
afflicts International players at the worst possible time. So, aside from
the obvious candidates, we were in fact looking for steroids too!
What about other means of improving
mental function? It turns out that some things actually can work,
and as already stated, others may really decrement intellectual
functions. There was a case of a well known International
Grand-Master who only played well when drunk. His people were really
worried that we would outlaw alcohol. Truth be known, if he actually dried
out permanently, his intellectual functions would certainly improve over
his usual drunken state. But, his handlers didn’t want to take the
requisite time to find out! In any event, we determined that using
alcohol was more likely to decrease performance, and thus if in his
situation as a confirmed alcoholic, if he was using alcohol to maintain
his addiction, it was not going to give him something better than if he
were not alcoholic. Thus it was not, even for him truly an ergogenic, or
perhaps better said, psychogenic aid. Pot similarly decreases mental
performance in normal people, and thus is not illegal in Chess.
