Physical Fitness in Chess, Part 1

The question, of course, is why is physical fitness important in a sport (activity) where you sit down for a substantial part?

Chess, of course, puts a (great) strain on the nervous system. Imagine two situations:

a) You are playing your first serious game in a tournament. You are playing against an opponent with a much lower elo rating, making you the clear favorite. If you don't win, the tournament starts off badly, and in case of a loss, you will face another weak opponent, etc. The position is not clear, and there's not much time left. Every decision could be fatal.

b) You are playing a game in a pub with a friend. You're spectating, drinking beer, and it's great fun.

These are two completely different situations, yet you are playing chess in both. With a friend in the pub, you can play longer than a serious game without it causing nearly as much stress, if any. Perhaps then the stress is from going home :-)

In chess, the nervous system suffers a lot. The nerves get a workout. Do your hands ever shake when you make a move? Or when you're about to? Do your hands ever shake after a game? It has happened to me more than once. (PS: That's why sometimes my signature looks the way it does - I hastily scribble a signature because I'm still full of emotions and frazzled nerves). Some games were laden with stress, and their conclusion brought immense relief. It was Garry Kasparov who stated that he "went prematurely gray from chess." Not only from my own experience, I know that some chess players prefer to quickly draw to ease their own nervous system. And this applies even to players who seemingly have nothing at stake and could play comfortably. But their own stress led them to "flee from the battle."

But stress is not only the domain of adults. I remember as a child often having stomach pains and generally problems with my stomach from stress. I cannot forget how the renowned coach Mark Dvoretsky gave the young adept Alexander Chernin three essential "orders" that he had to follow (PS: I don't remember it that well, it was a nice article about M.D. in the magazine PROFIL, I think published in Slovakia, and M.D. didn't really want to train A.C. because he was already old, I think he was 18 at the time :-)). And one of them was: to run every day, no matter the weather. I don't remember how much it was, but definitely not a small amount :-) Not only was running supposed to improve the physical condition of the young talent, but also to strengthen and "toughen" him, so he could endure tough, tense games.

PS.: Alexander Chernin won the Soviet Championship (!) and won many tournaments (more info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Chernin