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.’
 
Here are a couple of cases which show how human players can be confused.
 
Carlsen–Mamedov, Gashimov Memorial 2015 (see diagram 1)
 
Black can hang on here with the straightforward 34 … Re5 when the position remains in balance. Instead he blundered inexplicably with 34 … Qe5 when after 35 Qf7 Black resigned as he is now completely lost. Black has to play 35 … Qe8 allowing 36 Qxf5+ when his case is hopeless.
 
Carlsen–Vachier-Lagrave; Gashimov Memorial 2015 (see diagram 2)
 
Black’s position is difficult but he now self-destructs and allows White to take control and regain his sacrificed pawn. 24 … c6 25 dxc6 Rac8 26 Qd1 Rxc6 27 Qd5 Rgc8 28 Rad1 Bf8 29 Qxf7 Keeping queens on with 29 Bxf7 is also strong for White. 29 … Qxf7 30 Bxf7 Na4 31 Re2 Rc1 32 Rxc1 Rxc1+ 33 Kg2 Nc5 34 b3 Rc3 35 Kh3 Nd7 36 Be6 Nc5 37 Bd5 Nd7 38 Ne3 Nf6 39 Be6 Rc5 40 Nc4 White has regrouped his knight to target the weaknesses on d6 and a5. 40 … Kg7 41 f3 Ne8 42 Rd2 Nc7 43 Bg4 a4 44 Nxd6 Bxd6 45 Rxd6 a3 46 Bd7 Rc2 47 Bc6 Rxa2 48 Rd7+ Kf6 49 Rxc7 Rc2 50 Rxh7 Kg6 51 Rc7 Kf6 52 h5 White is winning easily but this clever move constructs a mating net. 52 … Rc1 53 Rh7 a2 54 Bd5 Black resigns
 
Top scores from the Gashimov Memorial were as follows (out of a possible 9 points); Carlsen 7; Anand 6; Caruana and So 5; Kramnik and Mamedyarov 4.