No it doesn’t. And I speak from experience
smoking causes dumb chess play

I smoked cigarettes then I stopped when I was taking runs and hawking up huge pools of spit. Plus it's nasty when you get sick and smoke, yeah it's nasty habit, weed is cool but then it leads to other

The USSR dominated world chess for decades while the country was drenched in vodka. And all soviets smoked. I rest my case.

i bet many of them are dead or dying now from cancer & cirrhosis of the liver... but yeah, it's so cool to run away from our problems! 😎

i bet many of them are dead or dying now from cancer & cirrhosis of the liver... but yeah, it's so cool to run away from our problems! 😎
We´ll all die but that wasn´t the topic.

hard to play well when your health is poor.
Life is hard but when the going gets tough, the tough get going. As for, as a chess player, overcoming health problems smoker Mikhail Tal is a prime example. There are few perfectly healthy and non smoking/drinking specimens that reached his level.

I've been smoking (first tobacco, then the funny stuff) for about 50 years.
(perfectly legal in Canada, although not for all those 50 years)
Has it hurt my chess play? Who knows?
Without it, I might have been rated 3000.

hard to play well when your health is poor.
Life is hard but when the going gets tough, the tough get going. As for, as a chess player, overcoming health problems smoker Mikhail Tal is a prime example. There are few perfectly healthy and non smoking/drinking specimens that reached his level.
as i recall, mikhail tal died from health-related issues caused from his excessive drinking & smoking... a prime example, indeed!

hard to play well when your health is poor.
Life is hard but when the going gets tough, the tough get going. As for, as a chess player, overcoming health problems smoker Mikhail Tal is a prime example. There are few perfectly healthy and non smoking/drinking specimens that reached his level.
as i recall, mikhail tal died from health-related issues caused from his excessive drinking & smoking... a prime example, indeed!
You are way off topic. Tal, despite his cronic kindney disease, his smoking and drinking habits did not play dumb chess. Quite the opposite.

Tal died because the doctors removed the wrong kidney.
... so yes, Vodka may have played a direct role in his death.
Do not drink and operate on World Champion Chess Players.

he was forced to withdraw from some tournaments (thus affecting his ability to play well) & didn't play at all once he succumbed to his health issues (caused by poisoning his own body with alcohol & the 1,000+ chemicals in cigarettes), so actually, i'm spot on-topic guy.

It's a well-known fact that drinking does not cause dumb chess play.
Exactly the reverse... dumb chess play causes drinking (after the game).

It's a well-known fact that drinking does not cause dumb chess play.
Exactly the reverse... dumb chess play causes drinking (after the game).
i never lose; i either win or learn. ~yogi berra(?)
...whoever said it, that's sage advice to take. 😆

- technical_knockout wrote:
he was forced to withdraw from some tournaments (thus affecting his ability to play well) & didn't play at all once he succumbed to his health issues (caused by poisoning his own body with alcohol & the 1,000+ chemicals in cigarettes), so actually, i'm spot on-topic guy.
But he didn´t play dumbly. Are you hard of understanding?
ah my granny would give him a run for his money , mind you she sings like an angel