Does alcohol improve chess performance or destroy it?

Drunkenness improves your ability, but the process of becoming sober retroactively decreases it.

I cant tell but by the way I'm playing on my OTB tournaments I think I will start to drink before the game, lately I'm playing like a drunk and I drink just water, lets see what happens with a couple of beers.

The only plus side I can think of is that you can expect your play to improve throughout the game.

tonight it is destroying it

I poured alcohol all over the chess board and pieces...it didn't help my game a bit! Bad idea!

HIPS! why can't I open that @%&!? can of beer.. HIPS.. buurrp!  ooopps, it's my king.......

caffeine >>>>>>> ethyl alcohol :3

is chess a sport?

Laugh as you may, but many theoretical mathematicians have made their greatest contributions while slightly buzzed (.5-1 beer).  Chess abilities are probably better when slightly buzzed because you are slightly more creative at the cost of being slightly less safe.  However, more than 1 beer (or other drink) is probably detrimental.

i will laugh as i may.

Most probably is does not improve your chess. It only helps you see the positive in your opponent a bit more.

Well, Gideon Stahlberg was called the greatest combination player of all time - that is, in combining chess and alcohol.

Once Stahlberg turned up legless and plastered. He proceeded to smash Nadjorf off the board

This game? http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1100997

How do you know he was drunk?

Porter: … drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things.

MacDuff: What three things does drink especially provoke?

Porter:Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes; it provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance…

No mention of chess. I may take up nose-painting instead.

I've been googling this and it appears to be a myth that alcohol destroys brain cells:

http://lifehacker.com/5867049/nine-stubborn-brain-myths-that-just-wont-die-debunked-by-science

So keep drinking. It's good for you.

as bad as my chess is it maynot make any difference

When people say you only use 10% of your brain, they are not saying you use one tenth of your brain fully and the other 90% not at all . A variety of parts of your brain are activated, just not all at the same time most likely.

So basically, brain games are bad for you, alcohol is good for you, internet makes you smarter -- people desperately want to convince themselves that certain fun activities are actually healthy for them, so they will only look at the positive aspects of them and none of the negative ones. Although there are probably positive aspects to almost anything (we need a diminutive amount of arsenic in our bodies for example), you have to weigh it with the negatives to get a meaningful net value.

Drink what you want, drink what your able.. If your drinking with me I'll play you under the table!! BEERS UP!!

Although there might not be a concrete improvement in the brain when it works under pressure, the added motivation in itself is probably enough to improve the ultimate result. There are certain things in chess I might feel too lazy to do during most games; but if the game has a lot on the line, I will be more likely to actually do those things. So although being under pressure doesn't give an extra ability to do certain things, it simply motivates a person to do those things that they otherwise would have chosen not to do. That's huge.

Drinking to excess will harm you. There's no question about that. One glass of wine with dinner is not excessive drinking, as is well known. Refusing wine during dinner, on the other hand, is an excessive approach to drinking, and it creates much personal and social harm. If you would play chess well, then you must be moderate in all things (except perhaps in chess training).