The Similarities between Playing Chess and Working from Home

The game of chess got a worldwide boost after Netflix broadcast their hit series The Queen’s Gambit in late 2020. But, what if lead character Beth Harmon would have had to face her competition via a computer screen?

“Working from home harms the quality of work when it comes to mentally demanding tasks.” That is what Maastricht University’s researchers, Steffen Künn and Christian Seel together with colleagues from Rotterdam School of Management found out. They base their conclusions on the performance of top chess players who, due to the corona pandemic, were forced to organise their chess tournaments online. Online chess players made much bigger mistakes than during traditional matches, so it seems according to their research.

“The skills of chess players have many similarities with those of knowledge workers. Chess requires you to think clearly, accurately, analytically and strategically. This is also necessary if you are drafting a legal contract or developing a business strategy.” That’s why the researchers compared the performance of individual chess players in recent online and traditional tournaments. A total of 27,267 individual moves were analysed in 441 matches. Online players didn’t make more mistakes, but the mistakes they made were larger than the errors in traditional tournaments. With the help of artificial intelligence, Künn and Seel calculated the quality of moves based on the number of chess pieces that were captured and the extent to which a move protected the position of the queen.

The chess players themselves claimed that their inferior online performance could be explained by the lack of pressure from competition. There is simply more pressure in physical environments when you look your opponent in the eye. The researchers are not saying that working from home is bad. However, we shouldn’t exaggerate its blessings either. For mentally demanding tasks, the presence of colleagues seems important to stay sharp and get into the right mode.

Künn, Seel and colleagues ruled out the possibility that the chess players performed worse online because they were stressed by corona. “The players who took part in the research were based in China, the United States and Scandinavia, among other countries, at a time when COVID’s intensity was different everywhere. Top chess players also don’t fear unemployment or financial problems. They are young and do not belong to a risk group”, the researchers claimed.

The outcome is at odds with other studies on working from home, which show that people can concentrate better at home than at the office. According to Künn, Seel and colleagues, this depends on the type of work. So far, the effects of working from home have been poorly researched. What makes this study persuasive is that it compared the performance of the same individuals at home and on location. Other studies look at performance between groups of employees.

This research clearly shows that the effectiveness of working from home depends on many different factors. Consultant Barry Pietersen from Presearch – an agency that studies working conditions, employee engagement and job satisfaction – argues that not only the nature of the work plays a role, but also whether working from home is compulsory or voluntary and whether there is still room to come to the office, for example, once a week. The life stage of the employees and the period in which they work from home also seem to impact the outcome. Over time, familiarisation kicks in and productivity goes back to the old level.

Research into the effects of working from home provides a mixed picture. Call centre employees become 15 percent more productive if they are allowed to work from home. Their job satisfaction also increases. But the question is whether it will last. Pietersen: “IBM wanted to save costs in 2009 by having employees work from home, but they went back on it. Involvement and intimacy decreased in this case. Engagement mainly declined among staff who worked in teams.”