Do You Play Worse, Better, or the Same When There's a Crowd Around Your OTB Game?

Do you know why?

What will you try next time when there's a "crowd" so that you won't play worse?

Not when I am in a critical position or so. But when I have an advantage I try to lengthen my games so that onlookers can see my awesome tactics and finally me winning.

I've only had it happen once, my a fluke of nature.  But I thought it was exciting.  It was my first and only chess tournament.  I was unranked and paired against this guy ranked 1570.  I didn't know what I was doing (still don't) but remember having got in a position where I was putting major pressure on the A and B files.  Next thing I know a huge crowd was around.  It told me that I must be playing well and I was about to pull off a major upset.  The crowd built for a few more moves.  Pumped by the excitement, I moved a pawn and then everyone dispersed.  I guess that was the wrong move heh. I was defeated a short time later. 

worse if people talk

I find even one onlooker distracting, it doesn't even have to be a crowd. Not so much if it's just the player next to you glancing over, as that's very common. But if someone wanders over it definitely can give me pause. Much, much more so if it's a very high rated or titled player, as occasionally happens at the club. Then, I am a little embarrassed to admit, I have even waited to make a move on an occasion or two until they walked away, as I don't want them to witness how dumb I am.

Real stupid, I know, but being honest here.

I also get into time trouble a lot and frequently have crowds watching my endgames. I have gotten better at dealing with this since I have specifically been working a lot on both playing under time pressure and endgames for a few years now. Under time pressure you can't really be bothered to worry about how things look, and stupid moves are more to be expected anyways, so these situations don't bother me as much and I can sort of "put off" worrying about how things looked until after the game finishes.

Definitely jealous of chuddog and others who feel they play better under these circumstances though.

Last night, last game to finish. Annoying person pulls up empty chair, plonks himself down right next to us. Then sits there yawing loudly.  My anger was rising, but tried to rise above it. Very offputting. Offered a draw soon after just to get away. Even the sound of the breathing, the rustling of the jacket etc was peeving me off.  

Maintaining concentration in such circumstances is difficult.  Some folks are able to focus so much in spite of the distractions and irritation.  It seems like emotional management is important.  And I'm not good at it.  I lean more towards a Jimmy Connors or John McEnroe while wishing I was more like Bjorn Borg or Roger Federer.   Jimmy Connors and McEnroe were still great champions despite not managing their emotions very well, so it must not always be about emotional management.

Understand.  That's why I try to be as inconspicuous as possible when I'm watching someone's game.

"But if someone wanders over it definitely can give me pause. Much, much more so if it's a very high rated or titled player, as occasionally happens at the club."

Maybe ChudDog can wander over and watch your OTB game in progress.  ;-)

When i had a crowd looking at one of my over-the-board games--it made it more difficult for me to concentrate.

Easier said than done, Daniel.  With all that loud yawning from the bystander of Nick's game, I'd ask him to stop.  If he continued you'd know it was on purpose so perhaps smashing his face into the table for a nice long nap is an option.

Having players pass by, look at the position, and then move on is not bad, and no doubt there will be a crowd in a time scramble or when something big is on the line, but this kind of discourtesy is uncalled for.  No doubt my solution would bring the cops, but there's got to be a way of teaching these nudniks a lesson.

Just one man's opinion.

Bob

I've seen chessplayers lean forward with their hands over their ears to block out the noise.

I wouldn't be surprised if some players play with earplugs or headphones to block out the ambient noise.

And I've seen some young players in youtube videos play with hoodies which I've also seen players do in the World Series of Poker on ESPN.

That has nothing to do with noise, that's because they are into thug chess and thug poker (ha ha).

I always onlook my friend's game if I lost, to make him lose too... . He does pretty badly when there's a crowd around him. When the game is over, he says he lost because of 'poor ventilation'!

This old man laughed out loud!  Back in the day I might have done the same thing.  What would probably happen is that he would look up, and I'd give him a quick toothy boyish grin, and then he'd return the favor by scratching his temple with his right middle finger.  

Ah, to be young again and to goof around on your friends.   

That's funny. I should make most of my teenage...

Umm... They are. At least the players are. As long as they don't disturb them. It's seen even at top levels.

Probably the biggest crowd I ever had around me was when I played Emory Tate. I got a great position out of the opening as Black in a Sicilian, but was slowly outplayed tactically. It was a great game, but I don't think the crowd had any effect on how I played. Emory would have beaten me from his slightly inferior position anyway. He was an extraordinarily resourceful player. I did notice that Emory tended to exaggerate his evaluation of his position when there were more people around. 

If he had a better position, he acted like he was winning, and if he had the worse position, he acted as if he was losing, and would often get distracted by the crowd

This wasn't just in my game, but in all the games I saw Emory play during the tournament. At one key point in the tournament, he turned to the TD and complained that the crowd was literally sucking his oxygen out and he couldn't think! Yes, coincidentally, his position was pretty bad on the board by that point too.

In my own games, when there's a crowd around, I tend to be more careful. I don't want to be remembered for winning a Q against some GM only to lose the game, as a friend once did.

Most people are probably like Emory. It's hard to keep an even keel when the whole tournament hall seems to be watching.

I played a GM once in a big tournament. I was excited about it. I also thought my game would be the most observed game of the day. But unfortunately, I was checkmated in a game that lasted hardly 15 moves and 30 minutes. It didn't go on long enough to attract onlookers..

Having a crowd around me definitely affects my play negatively. It's just one more thing I have to be conscious of, it feels like. 

Gotta be the reason why I have stage-fright!