Examination of the relationship between performance level, nutrition, and exercise behaviors in national chess players

It is generally known that a healthy diet and regular physical activity have positive effects on physiological and psychological health.Therefore, a healthy diet and regular physical activity are essential for a healthy and quality life. For players, they are important not only to be healthy, but also to achieve success, develop and maintain their skills and prolong their sports careers. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the dietary habits, food consumption, exercise behavior and performance level of chess players. The study consists of a total of 50 players, including 20 national players with different playing levels randomly selected by the researcher and 30 players licensed by the Turkish Chess Federation (TSF). The questionnaires completed both electronically and physically were reviewed and the valid ones were included in the study. The Nutrition-Exercise Behavior Scale (NEBS) was used for the quantitative data. A t-test analysis was performed to determine the relationship between the means of the independent variables and the level of nutritional awareness and exercise behavior. It was found that the majority of the group with a UKD score of 2000 or higher had BMI scores in the "overweight" range, indicating a strong tendency towards obesity. The assessment of diet and exercise behavior based on UKD scores revealed a significant relationship between "psychologically dependent eating behavior"," "healthy eatingand exercise behavior"," "unhealthy eatingand exercise behavior" and "regularity of meals" (p<0.05). Keywords: Chess, Nutrition, Exercise, Physical Activity, Performance