Top-level chess has taken giant steps towards professionalisation in recent years with higher prizes, global TV broadcasts and major events online. For the athletes, who can spend up to eight hours at the board, their chairs are now also playing an increasingly significant role.

Bobby Fischer had a special chair shipped to him from New York to Reykjavik for his 1972 World Championship match against Boris Spassky | photo: J. Walter Green / AP

When the 2020 Candidates resumed in Yekaterinburg, Russia, with its second leg last year, the eight players were given the option to choose their own chair. The impressive conference-style chairs with head support drew considerable attention from chess fans online, who wanted to know how to purchase the chairs.

“They only sell those chairs to grandmasters,” one user jokingly wrote on Reddit. FIDE explained that the players were given a wide choice because it’s important for players to be comfortable during the game so that nothing breaks their concentration.

Players could choose between a variety of chairs during the 2020 FIDE Candidates Tournament | photo: Lennart Ootes / FIDE

Only two of the players decided to stick with the original office-style chairs, one of them being Dutch no. 1 Anish Giri. "I think the green chair is very special and it deserves more love,” he said. “But at the end of the day, we want to focus on the game and, if possible, to have a usual chair.”

Russian Grandmaster Alexander Grischuk had a different view. “Everything about this tournament is absurd,” he said. “So we’re adding another dimension of this absurdity: everyone has a different chair.”

It’s not the first time the chair has played an important role in top-level chess. In 1972, Bobby Fischer was presented with six to eight different chairs for his World Championship match against Boris Spassky in Iceland, but none of them appealed to him. It was not until Fischer was presented with the Charles Eames line of executive chairs furnished for his 1971 match against Petrosian, that he eventually gave his thumbs up. Fischer’s chair was purchased for a whopping $472, equal to $3,140 nowadays when adjusted for inflation, and had to be shipped from New York to Reykjavik.

Six years later the bitter rivalry between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi brought the importance of seats into focus again. The players were so deeply suspicious of each other that the chairs had to be taken to the local hospital to be X-rayed. No devices were found and Karpov eventually won the match.

Karpov’s successor, Garry Kasparov, is said to have been even more particular in their 1987 match, inspecting up to 50 chairs for it.

The current World Champion Magnus Carlsen is among the players who consider the chair of great importance, and he's said to pay considerable attention to how to best sit at the chessboard. Carlsen has claimed that many chess players have the wrong seating position, craning their necks forward too much.

According to Keith Overland, former President of the American Chiropractic Association, that can lead to a 30 percent loss of lung capacity, and leaning 30 degrees forward increases stress on the neck by nearly 60 pounds. This strain requires back and neck muscles to work harder, resulting in headaches, irregular breathing and reduced oxygen to the brain, according to ESPN. "A chess player can develop chronic neck and upper back pain, as well as sore shoulders and backaches," he said.

In a gruelling World Championship match that makes the chair of even greater importance, Carlsen’s father and manager Henrik said.

In a World Championship match it’s very important that all details are in place. In situations where you are under pressure, it’s easy to become annoyed by small things. In addition to the indoor climate, the lighting and silence, a good chair is decisive in order to deliver at the top level.

For Magnus Carlsen’s 2016 and 2018 World Championship matches, the competitors were given the choice between several chairs, but in the end it turned out only one or two of them were usable.

“For the 2021 match, I asked to have the same chairs as in 2016 and 2018, because they worked well,” his father said.

The pandemic led to a massive global surge in chess online, and established chess as an e-sport with major prize tournaments taking place on the web. The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, pioneered by the Play Magnus Group, has been at the forefront of this. As in over-the-board chess, the chair has become an important accessory for online players, especially in the booming chess streaming world.

This brought chess tournaments to a similar stage as other global e-sports tournaments such as Worlds (League of Legends), and The International (Dota 2), where players rely on pro-grade tournament chairs to support them through hours of gruelling gameplay, and where details right down to ergonomic comfort are key for performance.

The gaming chairs were an important part of the studio in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour FInals, here with Anish Giri facing Magnus Carlsen

For the grand finale of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, gaming chairs were an important part of the studio, Tour Director Arne Horvei said.

In the Tour we are continuously looking for new ways to make it exciting for the audience and more prestigious for the players, while at the same time making sure we have the best conditions for the players. When we had three players for the finale in Oslo, we wanted to take another step towards the digital universe at the venue itself, so it was natural to create the first e-sports arena for chess.

Horvei added that it feels completely natural to furnish the venue with gaming chairs, which is why the chairs will re-appear for the second season this year.

“They looked aesthetically good on the broadcast, but they are also very comfortable and made to give you a comfortable seating position for the hours in front of the computer.”

So sit back and relax when the Tour restarts and make sure you have a good chair — because Carlsen will.

Sources: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Vault, ESPN, Reddit