There’s no doubt in my mind that being in good shape is helpful for one’s chess. The brain needs a good supply of oxygen and tiredness can be a major issue. Especially for the more mature chess player.

So for the past 15 months I’ve been trying to get back into shape after rather letting myself go. It hasn’t been easy, though I’m now about 25 kilos down from the horrifying peak with about 15 to go to the ‘ideal weight’. For a more visual representation of the progress compare the old photo used by Chessbase with the up-to-date one on the About page.

What’s my approach? Well I’ve found that the main difficulty has been to maintain the motivation to stay on track, so progress has come in a series of stages. During the early days it was difficult to have much discipline, but by getting an exercise bike for the office(!) it became more harder to find excuses. Joining a gym at that time would have been much less effective; it’s always possible to find worthy reasons to explain why there isn’t the time.

The bike plus more moderate eating helped with the first 15 kilos and a few more went after I started keeping a food diary, complete with an estimate of the calories. A couple of months ago I made a rather drastic resolution to stop drinking alcohol (making an announcement to this effect to tie myself in) and joined a gym with a pool and steam room. I hasten to add that I never set foot in the gym; the more mature male can do himself a mischief in such places.

I hope I might now be on the final stage, which is via further discipline with food (steamed fish, veg and sweet potato just about ever day) plus the use of a pedometer. I’m aiming for around 8,000 steps per day, which is quite a lot for someone who works from home at a computer. But it definitely needs to be done.

Have there been any benefits? There certainly have, quite apart from feeling a lot better. Last month I played better than I have done for quite a while, winning a couple of weekend events in Bolton and Huddersfield and finishing second in Blackpool. It’s the chess that’s the acid test and it seems I’m clawing it back.

Copyright Nigel Davies, 2008. All rights reserved.