[tyg13]

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's mentally exhausting, but I can't help but feel like pieces like these are intentionally trying to create hype for hype's sake. Just by basic understanding of how human metabolism works, these players would need to be eating an absurd amount, or losing an absurd amount of weight each tournament. That's nearly half of what a powerlifter eats each day. Not to mention that the sheer amount of heat your body would give off burning through that many calories. The only believable number given in that article is the claim that Russian grandmaster Mikhail Antipov burned 560 calories in 2 hours of intense chess, which doesn't even come close to scaling to the claimed 6000 calories/day figure given the amount of time these guys play every day during a tournament.

[comfypotato]

Indeed. The 6000 number has floated around for a while and is an exaggeration.

It is true that chess at the competitive level burns calories. (More like an extra 1000 a day during a tournament.) Coupled with tournaments not allowing food, players do lose weight over a few days! But like you said, the 6000 number is an exaggeration.