Vodka Gambit

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Avatar of ACTION_TOM

Has anyone ever experienced improved play due to higher blood/alcohol content? 

(High or slight) 

Avatar of GagarinGambit

Nope, on the contrary, it impears your judgement. That's not mere theory, I have played chess while drunk (and mind you, I do drink often). The only advantage I see is that it reduces your stress if you're playing a critical game, but it's really not worth the trouble.

Avatar of ACTION_TOM

Yep Played 2 Unrated games with a 1200 And Blundered like Crazy :D Only 2 Glasses tho Is more fun tho! Wish people would use their chat more. 30 Minutes isnt really a time crunch (My level anyway)

Avatar of QueenTakesKnightOOPS

I have played one of my best games with a monumental hangover, but a couple of beers over lunch always affected my game in a negative way.

Avatar of NomadicKnight

This should become a new opening name like the Sicilian... except the Vodka Gambit would mean "what the heck was this guy thinking?!?!" 

Avatar of MSC157

Nice one. Err... I think I haven't tried it yet. Or at least I can't remember! :)

Avatar of FrenchTutor

The Vodka Gambit is theoretically dubious.  Here are some lines to prove it:

 

0. Salad! Vodka Gambit? 

1. d4 Nf6 Red Bull!?

2. c4 Heart attack!!

 

other lines where the Vodka Gambit player is playing white and tries a different approach (I'm assuming best play for black):

0. Vodka Gambit? Salad!

1. e4 water! c5 water!

2. Nf3 vomit on board?? 0-1

 

0. Vodka Gambit? Apple!

1. Pass out?? 0-1


0. Vodka Gambit? Subway sandwich!

1. c4 gototrashcantovomit! 1... Nf6 water!

2. g3 water! 2... g6 walk around!

3. cold shower??  White forfeits on time

 

Here is the one acceptable variation of the Vodka Gambit which only leaves black with a slight advantage:

 

0. Vodka Gambit? + Cold shower!! 0... Banana!

1. Nf3 go to trash can to vomit! 1... Nf6

2. c4 water!! =/+

Avatar of Ziryab

Yes. I have played hundreds of blitz games during and after the consumption of alcohol.

I also played this OTB game after eight ounces of wine at a semi-blind tasting. It was not double-blind because we could see whether the wine was red or white and could observe its hue.

The bottles were wrapped in paper. With each wine, we tried to guess the variatal and the country. There were wines from Africa, Australia, North and South America, and Europe in the mix. After the regular tasting, there were two "bonus" wines. One was not wrapped in paper.

A friend and I went to this tasting between rounds one and two of a tournament. He also won his round two game. We arrived twenty minutes late for the start of the second round, so I decided to play aggressively. I had White.



Avatar of FrenchTutor

A variation on the Vodka Gambit, the Wine Gambit, has actually been tried in grandmaster play:

 

http://metro.co.uk/2009/09/04/drunk-chess-grandmaster-falls-asleep-at-board-391122/

Avatar of MSC157
Ziryab wrote:

A friend and I went to this tasting between rounds one and two of a tournament. He also won his round two game. We arrived twenty minutes late for the start of the second round, so I decided to play aggressively. I had White.

This was playing in the background, from 8:23 on, when I went through the game (actually when I clicked "play" button on the diagram)! Laughing

Avatar of 2mooroo

I used to be rated about 1900 in bullet on chess.com a few years ago when that's all I played and I would occassionally play pretty drunk and it didn't seem to have much of an effect on my performance.  I would bet it has a huge effect when you aren't playing subconsciously like in bullet though.  I can't even imagine calculating long variations for hours while drinking heavily. 

Avatar of Ziryab
MSC157 wrote:
Ziryab wrote:

A friend and I went to this tasting between rounds one and two of a tournament. He also won his round two game. We arrived twenty minutes late for the start of the second round, so I decided to play aggressively. I had White.

This was playing in the background, from 8:23 on, when I went through the game (actually when I clicked "play" button on the diagram)! 

Terrific. That piece is only a little shorter than the game itself, which was over in less than fifteen minutes.

Avatar of marcosite

Playing chess & drinking Vodka go hand in hand for me.  Yep, check my score.... It's OK as long as your opposite is drinking too.  My trouble must be all you sober players!

Avatar of Ziryab
FromMuToYou wrote:

I used to be rated about 1900 in bullet on chess.com a few years ago when that's all I played and I would occassionally play pretty drunk and it didn't seem to have much of an effect on my performance.  I would bet it has a huge effect when you aren't playing subconsciously like in bullet though.  I can't even imagine calculating long variations for hours while drinking heavily. 

Modest consumption often improved blitz and bullet performance. Excessive consumption always has a detrimental affect.

How much wine, beer, or bourbon constitutes excessive? We each have our own answer to that question. 

Avatar of marcosite

Besides, if we don't say we are drinking then nobody knows!

And if you play a very good game drunk then imagine the player you could be.... ( I wish eh?)

Avatar of Musikamole

Ziryab wrote:

A friend and I went to this tasting between rounds one and two of a tournament. He also won his round two game. We arrived twenty minutes late for the start of the second round, so I decided to play aggressively. I had White.

---------------------

Well done! Boden's mate with 13.Nxc6! The standard version being a queen sacrifice on c6.

Curious, do you have a collection of your games under the category of all the famous checkmates, and have you delivered everyone of those famous checkmates? Any still out there that you have not done?

Avatar of marcosite

...& I shall have another glass & rejoin the frey! Plus try to understand Queen sacrifice. 

Avatar of sonofdistance

Hmm, sounds fun, no drunken mistakes?

How about the cannabis gambit? 

Avatar of marcosite

Now we're talking...Ha.  Long winded and complex.  But if it works... I'll try it.

Avatar of sonofdistance

If anything it seems like cannabis would help more than alcohol; time to break out the brownies!