Many amateur players look with envy at the (nearly) perfect play of chess grandmasters. But it seems that chess grandmasters have to pay a price for their extraordinary ability. I browsed through a copy of "The psychology of chess skill" by Dennis H. Holding and found that the average life expectancy of outstanding chess players is almost one decade shorter than the life expectancy of minor masters (60.1 vs. 68.1 years, respectively. However, the cited study is from 1969, so today's GMs likely live longer). Dennis Holding attributes this to the stress of tournament play and points out that players "[...] who led professional lives outside chess survived a decade longer [...]". So don't worry if you don't find time to study chess or play many tournaments - may be it is better for you!

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