Hypnotism

During the World Championship qualifier of 1959, grandmaster Pal Benko wore dark glasses to counter the hypnotic gaze of his dangerous opponent, world champion-to-be Mikhail Tal. This precaution did him no good (see this week’s puzzle).
 
This is not the only instance when hypnosis has been suspected in chess. In the 1978 world championship, Viktor Korchnoi accused Anatoly Karpov’s assistant, Dr Vladimir Zukhar, of disrupting his thought processes by attacking him telepathically.
 
Korchnoi has also said he thinks Magnus Carlsen, the reigning world champion, mesmerises his opponents into making blunders. It’s true that in the recent Gashimov Memorial tournament, several of Carlsen’s opponents seemed compelled to self-destruct, helplessly converting possibly defensible positions into losses. Who knows whether this was hypnosis or players buckling under pressure? Judit Polgar has said on Twitter that ‘Chess is 30 to 40 per cent psychology. This doesn’t come into consideration when you play a computer. It can’t be confused.