Coffee, Siamese cats and bananas: Inside chess player rituals

“During the Candidates in Madrid (2022) I’d have a Grande Americano so I thought why not revive old traditions,” said Hikaru. At the Madrid Candidates, Hikaru was in contention for the second spot until Ding Liren won against him on demand and he finished fourth.

Right after he defeated two-time World Championship challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi at last year’s World Cup, Vidit spoke of having completed ‘950 days of meditation’ and attributed his calmer mind to the routine. “I have a ritual before every game, it’s one of the ways to centre myself, get into the game zone and tell myself – ‘now you’re playing, you’re not just in your room, you know you’re ready to fight,” Vidit said at the Candidates, a couple of days ago.

Though Gukesh’s father Rajinikanth travels with him to tournaments, he rarely accompanies him inside venues nor does he stick around to watch him play. The 17-year-old prefers it that way. It’s a practice that started at the 2022 Olympiad when the Indian teen had a spectacular run of results – a flawless 8/8 and finishing with a score of 9 out of 11.

“I spent the entire Olympiad in our hotel room,” Rajinikanth laughed, “It’s been pretty much how it’s been in the tournaments after that across the world. I usually stay back at the hotel and watch a movie or something when he’s playing. On one of the final days of the Chennai Olympiad a few of us, including my wife and some of her family members, made a trip to the venue without informing him and discreetly watched him play in the spectators' area from a distance so he wouldn’t spot us.”

For his first World Championship against Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen was accompanied by his friends and family in Chennai. One of Magnus’ friends, a qualified medical professional, travelled as his doctor for the India match. “It was supposed to be a one-time thing,” he said, “But since the match went so well, he wanted to have the same people around him for his other World Championship matches as well. I ended up being a part of his team for four out of five matches.”

Not wanting to tinker a winning team aside, chess players often like to settle into a rhythm, especially during long tournaments. “I usually like to sleep a lot, sometimes it goes up to even 10 hours. I also take a short nap before the game,” Praggnanandhaa told HT.

Anand typically liked his World Championship pre-game meals to be quick and ones that could be consumed without much effort – a banana/sandwich/wrap/milkshake.

Rituals can be practical choices but also often have a superstitious touch to them. Often players repeat outfits, carry the same pens and eat the same breakfast/mid-morning snack when they have a good streak of results going. Some pack a lucky mascot in their carry-on.

Hungarian GM and the greatest female player of all time, Judit Polgar carried a tiny wood-carved lion figurine with her to tournaments for years. It was a gift her coach brought for her from Kenya when she was eight. Azerbaijani GM Teimour Radjabov has spoken of packing his Napoleon figurine that he got in the French emperor's birthplace, Corsica, for tournaments.

Former world champion Alexander Alekhine did one better. He usually took his Siamese cat, Chess, with him to tournaments including the 1935 World Championship against Max Euwe. “Alekhine would sometimes before a game put his pet Siamese cat on the chessboard to smell it," Euwe said in an interview with Pal Benko that appeared in the August 1978 Chess Life & Review, " He could not play with the cat in his lap, so he wore a sweater with the cat’s picture on it."