Does alcohol improve chess performance or destroy it?

haha  horse shit.

Including moderation.

I can dig it, I'm just not with it despite what is written above the temple dedicated to Apollo at Delphi.

I have a chess set that has 32 shot glasses instead of 32 pieces. Using this set has taught me that alcohol does not have a beneficial effect on most aspects of chess. However, the soundness of my piece and pawn sacrifices increases tremendously when I use this chess set!

My sober live rating seems to be around 1450-1500, but in the course of a few hours and a few more beers I usually manage to bring that down to around 1350. It would be nice if chess.com gave us the feature of logging in as an inebriated client, and to have a separate rating as such.

A little alcohol might do some good, however this is from the article you linked:

Kevin Purdy explained it best:

What alcohol can and does do to your brain is affect the way your neurons get their firing triggers from glutamate. It infiltrates the glutamate receptors in your synapses, hurting their ability to send off their normal "fire" messages. Alcohol has this impact all across your brain—the parts that control muscles, speech, coordination, judgment, and so on. Keep that in mind the next time you or someone else claims that they drive, golf, or otherwise perform some task better with alcohol's help.

I was not inebriated. One or two glasses of wine is a long ways from inebriation.

Ten ounces of 107 proof bourbon would be another matter. I've played online blitz in such a state. Those games are horrid, but even so, I win my share or a little more. Sometimes I play better blitz when I don't give a ****.

Many Friday nights during a losing streak on ICC, I have poured a glass of bourbon and begun winning.

The second glass usually brings the losing streak back.

The real issue, if any one in this thread would like to be serious, is that an appropriate level of relaxation facilitates focus and performance. To play chess well, one needs to be alert, but not excessively tense. It is a delicate balance. Anything that helps find that balance--moderate drinking, meditation, even tobacco--can be beneficial. Any mind-altering substance, however, can have the opposite effect. One must know oneself, one's reaction to stimulants and depressants, and must know the proper limits.

To beer or not to beer?!...

Of course it does!!!!The more I drink and the more pieces I have, each of them is doubled!

It must be fun seeing 64 pieces in the starting position!!!...

@Ziryab The problem is the choice of drink... try ^bourbon^singlemalt

I never ever play when sobber, I would be too afraid to play something stupid.

Well this thread has made me thirsty! I am done with my chess games here tonight so here's to a rum n coke! Cheers all....

are you putting me on?

Depends on the person.

/thread

^^ Cheers!

        Alcohol is a suppressant which reduces the acuity of bodily and mental functions. For example, it suppresses the release of anti diuretic hormone (which helps in bladder control) into the system. This is why one tends to feel the urge to visit the toilet to urinate during and after alcohol consumption more than usual - the lower hormone level and the extra fluid intake.

        The only way in which it might conceivably help one's chess game is if the player is normally inhibited by mental factors when sobre which might be reduced by alcohol. This. I reckon, is an unlikely scenario.

A glass or two of wine, one double shot of bourbon, or a martini have each had a positive impact on my chess multiple times--over the board and online. Beer, however, has a deleterious effect. The difference is the carbohydrates, which hamper mental performance.

At the same time, a third bourbon has proven itself on many occasions to send my chess into the toilet. Well, maybe not the toilet. I play pretty well on my iPad when I'm there.