Effective chess cheating before the internet

SIR – Sharp practice in chess precedes the internet (“‘Cheat’ talk sits uncomfortably with chess prodigy”, report, September 21).

Here is Harold C Schonberg, writing 50 years ago in Grandmasters of Chess: “[Players] will mutter to themselves, sip liquid noisily, eat something with great smacks of the lip, blow smoke toward the opposite player, sneeze in his face, stare at him until he becomes uncomfortable, squirm constantly, belch, pick at the nose. Nose-picking has been found to be specially effective; such a sight drives some squeamish players up the wall.”

Richard George St Albans, Hertfordshire

The Chess Players, attributed to Bartolomeo Manfredi (1582-1622), a follower of Caravaggio