Using Chess Performance to Track Mental Clarity and Cognitive State
By
dmvaldman
Hand-rolled, kettle-boiled, baked to perfection. Worth every minute at the bakery.
Summary
The article describes a personal experiment where the author uses chess performance as a proxy for mental clarity and cognitive state, comparing it with data from a Garmin fitness watch. The author tracks daily chess results to gauge mental sharpness, finding that chess wins/losses correlate with perceived mental clarity better than the watch's physical metrics alone. The piece explores the intersection of cognitive tracking, personal data analysis, and the limitations of current wearable technology in measuring mental states.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledSome mornings I'd wake ready for the world—I'd feel alert, clear-headed, present. Other days, I'd retrace my steps 20 times to find my keys, dreading the long day ahead.
Though great at tracking the body, it was mediocre at tracking the mind.
There's another signal I was using to track the mind, which is chess. I play almost daily, and I found winning or losing to be a good proxy for mental clarity.
Chess was turning into a daily cognitive check-in, a way to quantify something that felt unquantifiable.
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