Psychopathology in Chess: Research Study

Abstract
Background: Hardly any psychology research has been done specifically centered around chess, despite it being such a psychologically rich and interesting game. This study aims to understand the role of psychopathology in chess and its relationship to the ways in which individuals process emotions, specifically looking at Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Results: Individuals with self-identified ASD represented the only group to report experiencing no anger throughout the tournament. Individuals with self-identified depression reported the lowest average happiness and the highest average sadistic feelings. Additionally, findings imply that feelings of competitiveness decrease with age and with increased skill level. Further research would need to be done to understand the prevalence of these findings, however, as statistical significance cannot be established due to the small sample size.

Introduction
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by persistent difficulties with social interaction and communication as well as the presence of restricted, repetitive behaviors. Restricted and repetitive behaviors can be manifested by (1) stereotyped or repetitive motor movements, use of objects or speech, (2) insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualized patterns of verbal or nonverbal behavior, (3) highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus, and (4) hyper- or hypo-reactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of the environment (1).
While psychological research and statistics within the chess community are scarce, it seems to be commonly recognized that autistic chess players are prevalent within the community. This may be related to the aforementioned symptom cluster of restricted and repetitive behaviors; The majority of chess playing is online nowadays, and young autistic individuals play online games excessively (2). The prevalence of autistic individuals in chess could also partially be an effect of a sort of stereotype threat and/or social influence wherein individuals who enjoy playing the game of chess understand that there may be associations between being a chess player and being autistic, introverted, socially challenged, “nerdy,” or other potentially stigmatized labels or identities.
Regardless of the actual commonness of autism in chess and the reason behind this commonness, an interesting dichotomy seems to exist here, in that autism is a phenomenon associated with poor emotional control (3), and chess is often an emotionally intense game, as people’s egos are targeted. For many people, the objective of the game is about crushing the egos of their opponents just as much as it is about checkmating their opponents’ king; this could mean that chess requires a kind of sadism to excel at (4).
The goal of this study is to examine and better understand trends that occur within the chess community, particularly in emotional processing of autistic compared to non-autistic individuals, as well as other general emotional trends related to age, skill level, and psychopathology separate from autism.

Methods
A survey was used to collect data from chess players participating in the Vermont Open tournament, which took place from Friday, November 15, 2024, to Sunday, November 17, 2024. Participants were asked to complete the survey after all of the games were finished on November 17th, to mitigate the potential for biased or predetermined responses, and was distributed via a Google Form through a printed QR code that was posted in the tournament hall and sent through email as well. The information of participants was completely anonymous, which was ensured through a setting in the form, to eliminate privacy concerns. The survey was only accepted from those over 18 years old to eliminate the need for parental consent.
This survey utilizes a mixed-method design, integrating both quantitative and qualitative data for more diverse results. Quantitative questions in the survey include specific questions about the tournament rated on a 5-point Likert scale such as, on average, how angry did you feel during your games? as well as more general questions such as, how often does playing chess make you feel happy? Qualitative questions are open-answer questions, such as, what was your overall experience playing in the tournament? And, were there certain games in which you felt more emotions, or was it the same across the board?
Unfortunately, only 18 people completed the survey–While this may not be a large enough sample size to determine statistically significant results, there may still be interesting trends to extract. Out of the 18 participants, 3 people reported identifying as autistic, and 2 people reported that they were unsure. Additionally, 6 people reported having an anxiety disorder, 4 people reported having depression, 2 people reported having Obsessive-compulsive disorder, and 2 people reported having Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Ages ranged from 19 to 71, the mean age being 38.5.

Results

Figure 1. Averages for self-rated feelings of anxiety, discontent, and anger (before, during, and after the tournament games) using the 5-point Likert scale for groups of different self-identified psychological disorders.

Figure 2. Averages for self-rated feelings of anxiety, discontent, and anger (before, during, and after the tournament games) using the 5-point Likert scale for two groups: ASD (or people who were unsure whether they had ASD) and people without any self-identified psychological disorders.

Figure 3. Average Likert scale ratings for the questions How often does playing chess make you happy? And Do you ever feel as though chess brings out a sort of sadistic urge for you, or the feeling of wanting to crush your opponent's ego? Indicated by ‘H’ and ‘SU,’ respectively. ‘1’ means ‘Almost never’ and ‘5’ means ‘Every time I play.’ Numbers on the bottom indicate age ranges.

Figure 4. Average Likert scale ratings for groups of different skill levels on the questions How often does playing chess make you happy? And Do you ever feel as though chess brings out a sort of sadistic urge for you, or the feeling of wanting to crush your opponent's ego? Indicated by ‘H’ and ‘SU,’ respectively. ‘1’ means ‘Almost never’ and ‘5’ means ‘Every time I play.’

Figure 5. Average feelings of anxiety (before, during, and after the tournament games) for groups of different skill levels using the 5-point Likert scale.

Figure 6. Average Likert scale ratings for groups of different self-identified psychological disorders on the questions How often does playing chess make you happy? And Do you ever feel as though chess brings out a sort of sadistic urge for you, or the feeling of wanting to crush your opponent's ego? Indicated by ‘H’ and ‘SU,’ respectively. ‘1’ means ‘Almost never’ and ‘5’ means ‘Every time I play.’

Discussion
The initial aim of the study was to better understand emotional processing and regulation in autistic individuals, especially in the context of chess. Likely due to the generally limited sample size, there was not much data in this realm, and none of the data discussed can be deemed statistically significant. However, there were noteworthy trends. As seen in figures 1 and 2, individuals in the Autism Spectrum group reported the highest average feelings of anxiety and discontent, and the lowest average feelings of anger, compared to individuals who self-identified as having depression or anxiety, as well as individuals who identified as having no psychological disorders. While this finding may not accurately represent the general ASD population, it potentially points to interesting ideas; while it seems to make sense for feelings of anxiety and discontent to be higher in the ASD group due to possible difficulty with emotional regulation–especially when compared to the group without any psychological disorders–the finding that all individuals with ASD (and individuals who were unsure whether they would qualify as having ASD) experienced no anger throughout their tournament games when this was not the case for any other group is fascinating. This could be a result of autistic individuals suppressing emotions more frequently (5) coupled with anger sometimes being a very challenging and stigmatized emotion. It could also be a side effect of factors such as logical, matter-of-fact thinking or facing less triggering opponents–or simply random chance due to the inadequate sample size. It’s important to remember that correlation does not mean causation, and sometimes, it does not mean anything at all.
It appears that age, skill level, and psychopathology may all play a role in one’s response to the more philosophical self-reflection questions asked in the survey. Looking at answers to the questions How often does playing chess make you happy? And Do you ever feel as though chess brings out a sort of sadistic urge for you, or the feeling of wanting to crush your opponent's ego? It appears that average ‘happiness when playing chess’ ratings increase until the middle age range (30-60 years old) and then decrease as age increases (Figure 3). Similarly, the feeling of wanting to crush one’s ego decreases as age increases. This is consistent with current research suggesting that competitiveness typically declines with age (6). Figure 4 shows that expert chess players (i.e., those who are 2000+ in rating) reported the highest overall feelings of happiness playing chess and the lowest overall feelings of sadism/wanting to crush one’s ego. This may support the idea that increased skill causes less cognitive dissonance and makes the game overall more enjoyable. Additionally, once someone is very good at chess, they likely have a deeper understanding compared to newer players that being good at chess simply means that you are good at chess, not necessarily that you are a genius in other respects. This self-awareness would likely decrease the need to feel ‘superior’ to one’s opponent and allow one to simply spend their energy enjoying the game.
Similarly, average anxiety lessened with greater skill (Figure 5). This could be due to increased confidence and dependence on thorough calculation rather than on more of a mixture of intuition and calculation. It could also be that more skilled players have often played in more tournaments, and therefore feel more comfortable in the tournament environment.
Figure 6 shows almost perfectly mirrored data, where the lowest average ‘happiness when playing chess’ ratings and highest average feelings of sadism/wanting to crush one’s ego were reported amongst the depression group, and the inverse–highest average ‘happiness when playing chess’ ratings and lowest average feelings of sadism/wanting to crush one’s ego–were reported amongst the ADHD group. The findings related to depression are supported by the associations between depression and avoidance of social inferiority/shame (7). ADHD is a bit more complicated and further research would certainly be necessary to understand whether these trends are meaningful–However, ADHD is associated with some positive aspects such as plentiful energy and increased focus, which could impact one’s relationship to chess.
The qualitative data collected did not prove to be very helpful in better understanding anything regarding the study for the most part. However, to the question, What was the most difficult question to answer? Many participants said that the question about sadism was the most difficult to answer. Although this is relatively intuitive, this shows that perhaps reflecting and thinking of yourself as someone who would want to make others feel bad is not easy to admit, but exists within a lot of us chess players (and humans), especially when we do not have to take accountability for it or when it is anonymized via the internet (8).
There were some critical limitations to this study. First, there were not enough participants to make statistically significant conclusions. It would be ideal to conduct another study at a larger tournament. Additionally, some issues were raised about anonymity, as I had access to information that might enable me to identify who individual participants were, such as age and rating. This would be another benefit of conducting research like this at a larger tournament. Another important limitation is that there were zero women that participated in this study and only one person of color. Gender and racial background impact life experiences and the way in which one processes emotions, and this study provides a very limited scope, consisting mostly of white men.

Conclusions
It is hard to know whether the information in this study would help one better understand how autistic individuals process the emotional aspects of chess. The low levels of self-reported anger specifically within autistic individuals points to potential implications about the presence and/or acceptance of anger in autistic individuals; However, further research with larger sample sizes would likely need to be conducted to understand whether these findings are representative of the majority.
Individuals who identified as having depression reported the least average happiness among the groups–ASD, Anxiety, Depression, ADHD, and OCD–and the highest average sadistic feelings. Again, further research with larger sample sizes would likely need to be conducted to understand whether these findings are representative of the majority.
Although relationships between age/skill level and competitiveness were not what I expected to be the focus of this research, there were some interesting findings here, such as the implication that feelings of competitiveness decrease with age and with increased skill level.

References
1 - American Psychiatric Association. (2013). DSM-5 TM guidebook the essential companion to the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fifth edition (5th ed.). Washington, Dc American Psychiatric Publishing.

2 - Paulus, F. W., Sander, C. S., Nitze, M., Kramatschek-Pfahler, A. R., Voran, A., & von Gontard, A. (2019). Gaming disorder and computer-mediated communication in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Zeitschrift für Kinder-und Jugendpsychiatrie und Psychotherapie.

3 - Mazefsky, C. A., Herrington, J., Siegel, M., Scarpa, A., Maddox, B. B., Scahill, L., & White, S. W. (2013). The role of emotion regulation in autism spectrum disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 52(7), 679-688.

4 - Kleiber, S. (2021). Chess, A Perfect Game for Crushing Your Opponent’s Ego. To The Best of Our Knowledge

5 - Samson, A. C., Huber, O., & Gross, J. J. (2012). Emotion regulation in Asperger's syndrome and high-functioning autism. Emotion, 12(4), 659.

6 - Mayr U, Wozniak D, Davidson C, Kuhns D, Harbaugh WT. (2012). Competitiveness across the life span: the feisty fifties. Psychol Aging. 27(2), 278-85.

7 - Gilbert, P., McEwan, K., Bellew, R., Mills, A., & Gale, C. (2009). The dark side of competition: How competitive behaviour and striving to avoid inferiority are linked to depression, anxiety, stress and self‐harm. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 82(2), 123-136.

8 - Nitschinsk, L., Tobin, S. J., & Vanman, E. J. (2022). The disinhibiting effects of anonymity increase online trolling. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 25(6), 377-383.