A researcher at a major college in Texas told me about a project he and his team are working on. An electronic armband for emergency responders that measures heart beat,
stress levels, etc. One color on the armband would tell the wearer to avoid decision
making, if possible, due to high pressure. another color light would encourage
the wearer to act promptly as his “calmness” is in a normal range
I was thinking - could such technology be useful for a chess player?
Rob Jones
Most of those features are already available in various forms as hand held devices, something slipped onto a finger, or something strapped on your wrist. It’s only a matter of time until some company like FitBit or Apple manages to put them all in one reasonably priced product. It wouldn’t surprise me to see it in the next few years.
Steve Jobs even had Apple looking into a device that would monitor blood sugar without drawing any blood, because he was diabetic and hated sticking his finger several times a day.
Back in the 1980’s a handful of Nebraska players, mostly experts and masters, took part in a study done by a researcher at Harvard where they measured a number of biometrics and took saliva samples to measure testosterone levels several times over the course of a two day tournament. Chess was one of several sports being tested. There was at least one medical journal article published from that study.
Some players play better when they experience a little bit of anxiety. It sharpens the alertness as well as raises the blood pressure. OTOH, others feel that they play better when they can control their emotions and stay calm. As far as devices being used during the game to monitor stress, blood sugar, or other bodily functions, they likely fall under “aids” that should be impermissible just like various “aids to memory”. Note that there is a lot of junk science out there on the enhancement of performance.
I would like to see Mr. Magar tell a type 1 diabetic that he had to unplug his pump.
Alex Relyea
We are not talking about people with medical conditions monitored by a physician. I understand diabetes all too well. What we have is the possibility of players using devices to help them perform better. The use of computers is banned. TDs ask players to turn phones off. Many venues have rules stating that phones and other electronic devices must not even be in the playing room. This “interesting idea” looks like a backdoor to get a form of computer assistance back in the player’s armory.
Remember back in the 80s when there were players that would listen to music on a Walkman in order to calm then or put them into a specific mood? As I recall a general rule of thumb at the time was that as long as it could be proved not to contain any chess content and did not disturb [i.e. could be heard by] an opponent then it was allowed. In todays cheating conscious environment such would not be allowed. FIDE even has specific anti-cheating rule for arbiters [i.e. TDs] to follow.
Larry S. Cohen
Wesley So was forfeited for writing passive notes to himself. It sounds like this would be an active “note to self” triggered by blood pressure/heart rate to tell you to relax or concentrate or whatever you set it for.
I just don’t see how knowing your pulse, breathing rate, blood pressure, etc. offer any chess information. It isn’t that hard to keep track of your pulse, breathing rate and whether or not your palms are sweaty with no device whatsoever. So I just don’t see a reason to ban such devices because of their primary function.
My concern would be that they could be concealing a chess app or used to relay signals from a third party, because those sorts of contraband uses have happened with other devices.
At our tournaments here in Wisconsin, it is still fairly common for players to listen to music during a game. As a TD, I would not prohibit this unless I had some other good reason to be suspicious. Of course, our prize funds are generally small enough that we’re not that worried about cheating.
It would be a tremendous help during and after a game to have data on biological functions and how they change during critical moments in a game. Knowing such data, I would be able to figure ways to focus attention and enhance memory. Such an “aid to memory” would be a godsend during tension packed periods of the game.
Even better would be having the ability for the player or a confederate to hack into the biological devices used by the opponent. Having exact data relayed to a player would be a tremendous weapon. At present, we can only rely on intuition, paying attention to eye movements, and body language. Hacked data on a opponent during real time concerning his emotional and physical state would be most useful.
Perhaps we will have to have jamming devices installed to block data streams. It will start a chess arms race of offensive and defensive electronic devices if these biomeasurement tools become available. Players will have to come to the board with all sorts of gadgets.
I would think it should not be particularly difficult to get a physician to prescribe such a device. esp, for someone who has high blood pressure, or heart issues. Remaining calm
for them, could be very important, even for their survival.
Rob Jones