Chess pros burn a Michael Phelpsian 6k calories per game (opens in new tab)

Lol there's a very straightforward way to verify this since that kind of physical exertion produces reciprocal changes in the body. So are there any chess pros that have the physique of Phelps? Hmm

I would need to see some more numbers on this. 6,000 calories is nearly 2 pounds of fat, and it's an incredible amount of energy. The person would be soaking wet from the energy expended, or they would have to chill the chess rooms.

The central number here seems to be entirely anecdotal and very unbelievable.

Looks like 132 per hour is what the research actually says. The actual paper is pay walled, but this describes it:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-septembe...

Another fun quote:

> The 1984 World Chess Championship was called off after five months with both competitors — Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov — experiencing exhaustion. Karpov was reported to have lost close to 20 lbs.

Per game? This seems ... not possible. Wouldn't the players require huge amounts of food while not playing? I have been at a competition hosted on a hotel conference floor, and there were zero feasts to be seen.

Makes me wonder about debugging in a time crunch. Or intensely learning a new framework. Any of those situations where the world disappears and you come out of it hours later.