Age-related Decline in Chess Performance to Become a Thing of the Past

Male gymnasts who win Olympic gold medals have a short career. Their strength peaks at an average age of 21½ years. Some may be surprised that brain power follows a similar pattern to gymnastic excellence. That is best exemplified by top chess players, rated above 2800 – a level only a few players achieve.In days gone by, the best chess players were mainly an elite group of older men with knowledge that they kept secret.

But no longer: Computers have made chess knowledge, available to everyone. And they force chess players who aspire to greatness to play more accurately. The importance of accuracy favors younger players who can calculate long variations.

Research indicates that brain power peaks at 22.¹ So it’s no surprise that for the past few years world champion, Magnus Carlsen, in his early 20s, has been at the top of the rating list, setting a new rating record of 2889.2. Yet, even the mighty Carlsen did not equal the amazing performance of 20-year-old Fabiano Caruana at the prestigious Sinquefield Cup.  Caruana started the tournament with a perfect score of 7 out of 7, demonstrating that he is at the right age for peak brain function. In every game he seemed to calculate better than his opponents.

Professional chess players – caring as they do about winning – study and train for hours. So they surprise those of us, who are involved in science, by not taking the time to understand how research findings could improve their performance.

For example, research indicates that by controlling blood glucose levels before the games, chess players could increase their ability to remember details from past games, and put them to use.²

Watching calorie intake would help too. A study of 50 healthy seniors showed that when they reduced calories by 30 percent, their memory performance improved significantly after only three months.³

Difficult problem solving, which is important to chess performance, may be enhanced too. Researchers at the University of Sidney found thatbrain stimulation with a mild electric current enabled 40% of study participants to find the solution of a problem that was previously unsolvable.⁴

Soon, great chess players will have to integrate science-based practices into their life. The advantage that competitors gain from doing so will be too great to be ignored.

We are at the beginning of an era when age-related brain decline is becoming a thing of the past. New interventions make it possible for people of any age to increase their cognitive capabilities and excel in the things that matter to them – from business success or balancing a budget to writing great literature.

If this topic interests you, please feel free to friend me or send an email. I am starting a global longevity study that will include definitive ways to measure brain health. It will include ways to slow and possibly reverse brain aging.

Solid writeup and a very interesting topic, but it feels like a bit of a stretch to attribute Caruana's tournament victory to his age simply because he is the closest to his prime brain power. If the difference was this great then the top 100 list would be dominated by 21-24 year old players with a sharp drop-off after 25, which is not the case.

http://2700chess.com/

I'm 24 now, do you think there will be ways in my future to keep the brain closer to its peak? :)

Harmbtn wrote

…”it feels like a bit of a stretch to attribute Caruana's tournament victory to his age simply because he is the closest to his prime brain power.  If the difference was this great then the top 100 list would be dominated by 21-24 year old players with a sharp drop-off after 25, which is not the case.”

Thanks for commenting! Actually, if you look at the top ten in that list, six are in their mid to early 20’s. I predict that for a while, members of this elite group will trend towards even younger ages. However, when the new methods of reversing brain aging become known, older players may again become part of that list. I will also wager that players of all ages who are willing to do the due diligence necessary to learn the new brain improvement methods, will surprise themselves at how well they can play.

And that leads to your question, Harmbtn. “I'm 24 now, do you think there will be ways in my future to keep the brain closer to its peak? :)”

I think there are ways right now to keep your brain close to or even surpass its peak. For example, an easy to follow strategy is to eat a  diet that keeps glucose low – particularly overnight.

If you keep glucose levels in the 80s or below for 12 or more hours while you sleep, an amazing molecule, brain derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF) becomes activated to protect your glucose-hungry brain. BDNF will increase production of new brain cells in your hippocampus -- facilitating learning and memory. Here is a link to a related blog if you want to read more.

If a talented player applied just this as part of their chess preparation regimen, I believe they would surpass their peers. Every mental task would become easier. They would also lower disease risk and live better and quite possibly longer.

Two weeks ago, with the help of several scientists and doctors, I launched CR WAY DNAHACR, a global research project that measures risk of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. It will include interventions to slow and reverse age-related cognitive decline. I can hardly wait to share the relevant information with the chess world.

Congratulations, your training certainly paid off in our game. You took sharp tactical advantage of the mistake I made. I think the tactics trainer is a great learning tool.

I am 58 and several family members have died of Alzheimers. Studying chess is one way of staving off age-related mental decline.

It all could be culturally determined.  Older people may be encouraged to be less competitive.  There is no scientific evidence that one's brain power actually deteriorates with age.  For example, study X finds that younger people have superior short term memory encoding abilities.  Yeah but who says that younger people didn't try harder or that older people tried harder to remember the significant parts of a chess position but missed more of the significant parts because their experience has taught them that's it more important to get the gist of it.  Study two: playing ability declines after 20 or 30 years of playing chess.  Is that a result of age related declines or burn out? My point is that we just don't know the answer to this question because science if rather murky on such questions. 

ok paul lets talk about this

firstly, are you claiming that an older guy (I'm 43 for example) can improve dramatically at chess

OR

are you claiming that strong players (like kaspy) can keep their incredible skills sharp and beat the guys, even as they age.

I find both hard to believe.

OTOH.  Kaspy is obviously trying the second challenge; and is going to tackle the youngsters at this years sinq cup.   also, whats your angle?  are you a strong competitive OTB chess player?

are you coaching one??  are you looking at this as a lifestyle choice?

I can say that this year I've been working on competitive orienteering... a mix of running & orienteering. and I think I might be nearly the best shape of my life.  

so even IN a very Physical way;  you CAN get the body in great shape later in life.  it just takes more effort than perhaps it would have a few decades ago.

Kasparov (53) smoked Caruana last year in the blitz tournament.  Caruana finished dead last.

Kramnik, Topalov and Anand are all in their forties.

Steinitz was 56 when he beat Chigorin in their second title match.  Lasker came first ahead of Capablanca and Alekhine at New York 1924 at the age of 56.  Korchnoi was playing a match for the world championship at age 50.  Smyslov celebrated his 63rd birthday during his Candidates final match with Kasparov.