OpenChess

To Play Better Against Attractive Women, Men Need to Avert Their Eyes

Do men get distracted by and play differently against attractive women than against other opponents? Yes, according to a study by Swedish researchers.

Called “Beauty Queens and Battling Knights: Risk Taking and Attractiveness in Chess,” the study used a large data set of results from international chess tournaments and cross-referenced them with photographs of 626 of the players — almost half of them women — whose attractiveness was rated by at least 50 independent observers.

The study concluded, “Our results suggest that male chess players choose significantly riskier strategies when playing against an attractive female opponent, even though this does not improve their performance. Women’s strategies are not affected by the attractiveness of the opponent.”

kingliveson wrote:whose attractiveness was rated by at least 50 independent observers

Maybe it was a slow news week at the Gambit Blog (no offense, Martin!)...

Jeremy Bernstein wrote:

kingliveson wrote:whose attractiveness was rated by at least 50 independent observers

Maybe it was a slow news week at the Gambit Blog (no offense, Martin!)...

But do we really need this study to tell us men do stupid things around women, especially ones they find attractive?

@kingliveson

Who is the portrayed chess-misses? Stunning appearance...

In three years of tournament play, this has never come up.

kingliveson wrote:To Play Better Against Attractive Women, Men Need to Avert Their Eyes

Do men get distracted by and play differently against attractive women than against other opponents? Yes, according to a study by Swedish researchers.

Called “Beauty Queens and Battling Knights: Risk Taking and Attractiveness in Chess,” the study used a large data set of results from international chess tournaments and cross-referenced them with photographs of 626 of the players — almost half of them women — whose attractiveness was rated by at least 50 independent observers.

The study concluded, “Our results suggest that male chess players choose significantly riskier strategies when playing against an attractive female opponent, even though this does not improve their performance. Women’s strategies are not affected by the attractiveness of the opponent.”

The study may be illustrating the high dweeb factor (read insecurity wrt females) in male chess players. A study of male and female non-chessplayers playing the game novice might have borne this out but is probably not practical.

alfons wrote:@kingliveson
Who is the portrayed chess-misses? Stunning appearance...

msalzge wrote:In three years of tournament play, this has never come up.

Settle down boys, you've already lost.

[Event "Thinking with the wrong head"]
[Site "Anywhere"]
[Date "Anytime"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Jessica Alba"]
[Black "alfons and msalzge "]
[Result "1-0"]
[BlackElo "2400"]
[ECO "A40"]
[Opening "Queen's Pawn Game"]
[Time "18:09:49"]
[WhiteElo "1200"]
[TimeControl "600+0"]
[Termination "Abnormal"]
[PlyCount "1"]


1. d4 {} 1-0

orgfert wrote: The study may be illustrating the high dweeb factor (read insecurity wrt females) in male chess players. A study of male and female non-chessplayers playing the game novice might have borne this out but is probably not practical.

Insecurity? Am not sure that's the right term. It is a natural behavior observed in males right from the age 10/11 when they begin to like girls, and becomes more pronounced during the adolescent years, which also continues to adulthood. Most men just can't focus 100% in the presence of a beautiful woman.

kingliveson wrote:Insecurity? Am not sure that's the right term. It is a natural behavior observed in males right from the age 10/11 when they begin to like girls, and becomes more pronounced during the adolescent years, which also continues to adulthood. Most men just can't focus 100% in the presence of a beautiful woman.

I agree, but I don't think we can ignore the fact that geek/dweeb/nerd tropisms are much more pronounced in such situations.

OK seriously, has anyone ever *actually* run into this OTB? I'm sure attractive 1600-2100 female players are out there; I've just never seen one or played against one. The ones I have seen have all been GM's or WGM's playing simuls (Alexandria Kosteniuk, for example). But in club play, my experience is that an attractive woman would rather have a root canal than spend hours hanging around grumpy old men with questionable social skills. At least that's what my wife says.

I played an attractive girl once, I estimate our ratings were <900, and I won.

However, the feeling is indeed different, and I made blunders that I wouldn't have made against a guy (such as hanging a knight, a 900 elo player does that but it felt the blunder was made because I felt nervous). I won because she made worse blunders.