Chess and nootropics/drugs

in the US our last 3 presidents have all used coca and/or marijuana.  meanwhile millions rot in prison for doing the same thing hmmmm

www.NORML.org national organization for responsible marijuana legalization

Taking drugs to play better seems like a bad way to go to me.

Defining drugs is not easy. Caffein is legal, but you can use it as drugs if you take many caffeinpills. Marihuana is a drugs, but others use it for painrelief (medicinal use). Ritalin is a medicin, but some people snort it as a drug.

Trying to boost the brain is not nescessarily bad. It is not easy to tell how and if the substance really helps you.

Caffeine gives a boost, but very short and afterwards you are less focussed (the come down). Also you may be more concentrated, but are you really? And does it really help memorizing? I recall a lecture by a professor on drugs when I studied psychobiology (did not finish the study). He told how he used amphetamine to learn an exam in 1 night. Next morning he succesfully made the test, but long term he forgot all that he had learned that night.

If you ask me it is best to just nourish your brain well. Eat healthy and diverse and very important: get good sleep!

Since the term "drugs" cannot be precisely defined as it differs between cultures, government regulations, medicine, etc.  Food is a drug, in many cases and sometimes contains many of them.  So when people are automatically responding with this negative knee jerk reaction, they may not be well informed.  There is obviously this dark stigma surrounding the use of drugs that has become so ingrained in the society as news so quickly informs us of all the negative consequences of its use.  I have no doubt that most people would have a different opinion if things were flipped and the news and social media talked more about how great they are and less about the bad stuff.  Apparently people aren't interested in good news so it doesn't sell.  I'm not trying to rationalize the use of illegal drugs for performance enhancement.  I'm just trying to say that the lines between dietary supplements and drugs may not be as clear as you think.  As long as they are not illegal, and/or not against the rules, I say go for it.  As far as nootropics goes, there is not enough funding or studies out there that have definitively proved one way or the other so its up to the "psychonauts" to cover some new ground!  What about the long term consequences?  People taking nootropics are aware of these, but it's with their discretion and not someone elses.  They will be the true frontier explorers in the realm of brain function enhancing potential.  Oh, but they're not controlled experiements and thus are useless -- well that's relative.  Observant, sensitive, and well documenting users may well be a wealth of accurate information.  With the advent of the internet and social media, more and more people are connected and able to share and compare their notes and results, scientists, and non-scientists alike.

If you could eat a food that was gauranteed to make you twice as smart and it had no down side, would you eat it, or would you say, "nah that's cheating, I'm gonna go natures way."?  If you chose not to eat it, I think what would happen is you would find yourself within a very small group of people (those that chose not to eat it) that would be dumb compared to the rest of the population.  I'm not saying that intelligence is necessarily the best way to go, I'm just saying most people would probably eat the smart food.

monosodium glutamate and other excitotoxins are drugs commonly used in food which would probably do far more neural damage than most nootropics or natural plant substances

Fantastic post, gobarr!

I've played chess on adderall a few times and while it seemed to improve my focus and endurance in a sense, I actually didn't do as well. I played too paranoid in some positions worrying about my opponents counter play, and in others i was so focused on one idea or my attack that it was hard to take a deep breath and really look at and process the whole board. I play best when I'm sober, relaxed, and I feel like myself, it's easier to just be logical.

When you play isn't it best to just be comfortable in one state of mind? Even if nootropics help you see more lines and improve your focus you still have to deal with the issue of dependency and building tolerance, and how you play sober may actually get worse which isn't something you want for tournaments etc. not to mention it's hard to see how they would help you long term and not just in the moment - opposed to just sitting down with a book or going over your games thoroughly.

I recently ordered for noopept. It feels as though fog has left your mind, and you feel sharper. Defnately good stuff to enhance well being and concentration.

this seems to be a balanced veiw by someone who is not anti drug.

this is the same thing sigmund freud (sp) said about cocaine. besides the first sentance.

No wonder Magnus Carlsen wins all these tounaments - He being doping!

Focus Factor is good for studying at least, and playing too!  Take it while you can before they start banning it. 

huh?

You need to do something more than spout rhetoric.  Why do you think it is "sad."  

Also, comparing nootropics, such as piracetam, which only do basic biological things like increase choline usage in the brain, with something like testosterone enanthate, for instance, is an untenable stretch.  

Touche!

Please do not be a sheep about marihuana, I understand superficial views on it are the way to go today but spare yourself the humiliation of an ignorance believing its truthfulness.

And refrain from judging all the time. This thing people have for judgement is really psycho-like, especially in modern world.

Tata Steel's tourney would really be something in one of them there coffeehauses.  Too bad those dorky chessers wouldn't begin to know (lol) what to do inside the redlight District

Wow zombie thread lol. Drugs might be able to make people more focused but your going to see the same things OTB board youd normally see. Its not like you can take some pills and start playing like a GM it doesnt work that way.

give me some cohibas

             http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/which-are-the-drugs-that-help-in-chess-performance                                                                                     http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/are-any-famous-chess-players-known-for-playing-on-drugs                                                                   http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/drugsmedications-to-improve-chess-performance-uncommon-other-means-to                                                  http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/drugs-in-chess