Inside Story: Passing It On

Editor's note: this story first appeared in the June 2026 issue of Chess Life magazine. This issue focuses on questions of mental health in chess.

Today, enjoy an article by Assistant Editor Rick Massimo and Editor John Hartmann on Nate Shuman's Mindmates program. Come back Thursday for the final instalment, and check out the first instalment here.

Consider becoming a US Chess member for more content like this — access to digital editions of both Chess Life and Chess Life Kids is a member benefit, and you can receive print editions of both magazines for a small add-on fee.

Passing It On

A former youth champion is teaching young players what he learned about staying in love with the game.

Nate Shuman started playing chess at the Dalton School, in New York, and soon he was on a track familiar to any observer of scholastic chess: trips to national and world championships, a speedy climb of the rating ladder. By age 8, he was nearly a master.

At age 13, he was still nearly a master. Not only had his play plateaued, but his attitude toward the game had changed. The “performance stress” cut into his enjoyment of the game, and so did his tendency to fade in the late rounds of the big tournaments.

Working with a sports psychologist changed everything, Shuman says. “I just got immersed in the world of biofeedback, mindfulness meditation, breathing, and it changed my life.”

He made it to national master, but more importantly his enjoyment of the game came back. “A big part of my journey was finding and loving and chess again, and just being joyful and going into these weekends … to just go and enjoy chess.”

Nate Shuman. (Photo courtesy of the subject)

Shuman is a sophomore at Harvard now, and even before he left high school he founded Mindmates, an organization that teaches the same kind of mindfulness and psychological tools Shuman learned to young chessplayers and athletes in other sports.

“You see a lot of professional athletes doing this work,” Shuman says, “and I really saw a gap there, and my work really was there to spread the word and spread what worked so well for me with other youth.”

Shuman is preparing a Mindmates-related scorebook with visualizations and exercises for before, during, and after a game or tournament, and he says it’s work that needs doing: He’s encountered 6-year-olds who were already anxious about winning and losing.

He says he frequently works with kids on separating the consequences of losing from the playing of the game. “I heard a lot of kids be, like, ‘I would really worry about the consequences of losing, if my parents would get upset, or if I would let my team down or coach down,’ and that would kind of their mind would wander there during the games, rather than actually the game at hand.”

Chess Life editor John Hartmann grimaces when he realizes he’s already lost in this New Orleans blitz game. (Photo by James Cullen)

Some of the exercises Shuman recommends in his notation book should be done before or after a game or tournament: Reminding yourself what your goal is, why you want it, and what smaller goals will help you along the way. Some are done afterward: Monitoring your feelings, listing what you’re proud of from the game. But a few of his techniques can be accomplished at the board:

Diaphragmatic Breathing: Instead of breathing through your chest, where your lungs are, “think of your belly like a balloon,” Shuman writes. Inhale through your nose while sending air down to your belly, then push the air out while exhaling through your mouth “with pursed lips.”
Palming: Rest your palms on your closed eyelids with a little bit of pressure for one minute. “Try to watch the backs of your eyelids while being aware of your breath.”
Box Breathing: Shuman describes this as breathing “mindfully” — inhale for four seconds; hold for four seconds; exhale for four seconds; hold for four seconds.

Shuman also found that eating well before a tournament helped him physically, and that also had emotional benefits. Keeping to a pregame routine — he would throw a football with his dad, sometimes even if it meant showing up at the board a few minutes late — also helped with decision-making and with calming his mind.

The 15-30 minutes leading up to the first move is one of the most stressful times for a chessplayer. Nervousness calms down a lot once the moves begin. I advocate taking a page from golf and developing a “pre-shot routine.”
About 30 minutes before each game, I would study openings. Even if they didn’t come up, it made me feel more prepared. This is more about having the body and mind feel like they’re ready for what’s about to take place. Then about 15 minutes before the game, I would close my eyes for five minutes.
Finally, I would take a quick walk in the remaining time. The truth is, it doesn’t matter too much what routine you pick. The trick is to normalize the situation and get your body used to the stress. Essentially, you trick your brain into thinking this next chess game, or this next downhill five-foot putt to win the match, is totally normal. Which it isn’t, but nobody chooses chess or golf seeking equanimity.
— FM Mike Klein

How It Works

Shuman says calming the mind with mindfulness meditation can include positive visualization, which can improve mindset going into a game or tournament. In a paper he’s co-authored with professor Andrew Newburg, he’s found that mindfulness can help in “quieting down the amygdala, which, by quieting down, doesn’t allow it to kind of react and impair the decision-making parts of the brain.”

Jianchao Zhou at the 2025 U.S. Masters. (Photo by David Llada)

It’s difficult to have positive visualizations of victory without negative visualizations of defeat, Shuman acknowledges. “That’s why this is not easy. … There’s a lot to say for envisioning the worst, or preparing for the worst, and seeing how that makes you feel,” Shuman says. “But when it comes game time, being able to quiet those thoughts is important. … It’s easier said than done. It also takes a lot of practice, especially if you’re struggling with performance anxiety. … It’s just like going to the gym, right? As we train our brains, they grow, and that only comes from consistent practice.”

In the end — and this is at the bottom of the later pages of Shuman’s scorebook — the key is to repeat to yourself, “No matter what happens, I love and approve of myself completely.” Acknowledging that “defeat is certainly possible” was reassuring to him, and can give players the resiliency they need to deal with the ups and downs of chess while the game is still going, and afterward.