What is the relationship between IQ and chess ?

What is the relationship between IQ and chess I wonder.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160913124722.htm

Am I missing something when I read that? To me it seems like the conclusion was "smart people are better at chess." Umm yeah of course they are. The question is how important is intelligence though. Maybe one way of doing it is asking what's the average IQ for players rated +2300, and then asking, of that sample who has the lowest IQ? And then, how much lower than average are they? If they're only barely below average that would indicate a sort of minimum IQ for entry at that rating. If they're well below then they may either be an anomaly, or if there's a decent number of other people below that samples average IQ, I think that would indicate that IQ is only a portion of the puzzle and not a hard genetic limit.

 

But maybe I'm misunderstanding something? 

Many people argue that intelligence is irrelevant to mastery, and the important variable is practice. It’s important to note that the authors did not say that other factors weren’t important, just that IQ is statistically significant.

There are inherent problems with studying only high-rated players. First, as the article points out, there is a selection bias. People who are good at it as beginners will more likely stick with it than those who are not. Thus all good players are pretty smart.

Second, there aren’t a lot of high rated players from which to do a study. It would be much more difficult to obtain IQ data. You need to make sure that data is randomly collected and that it includes no biases.

Given the importance of memory and calculation to playing at a high level, it’s likely that to get to the pinnacle of chess, they are a requirement. To get to lower levels of mastery, you could probably achieve via hard work, and strong motivation. At the top levels, though, everyone is working hard, and brainpower is likely what differentiates the good from the great.

IQ is irrelevant for chess

If you are playing somebody who is as unknowledgeable as you and you are smarter you'll probably win that;s it

Sure I'm with you on everything you just said. Maybe I'm just looking at it different and thinking it's just a given that to be the very best in anything requires talent and in this task talent will correlate heavily with IQ. What's more interesting to me is how good could a perfectly average person get? What about a little above average, say 115ish IQ? With perfect training they're never beating Magnus. But could they make it to FM with enough dedication?

And this meta analysis doesn't seem to even ask that question at all, much less answer it. 

In psychology, intelligence is the ability to make a connection between cause and effect, which can be used for good or for evil. Wisdom, on the other hand, always promotes life and seeks to kindly edify others. To the truly wise, an ounce of wisdom is worth more than a ton of IQ. 

Truly intelligent people have better things to do than push bits of wood around a board.

IQ isn’t a measure of how smart you are, it measures reasoning and problem-solving, but not so much long-term memory. So, you can be great at memorizing lots of lines and have great board awareness because you have great pattern recognition, but if you have an average IQ it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to calculate very well. Perhaps if you’re super motivated, you can become a GM. But remember, there are only about 1300 in the world and thousands chasing the title. I’d say it’s unlikely.

@exploringwa - that’s just one book. The study I referenced is a meta-analysis of basically all of the scientific papers on the subject.

There isn't really a relation between IQ and chess.

Chess is brutal warfare ,my Dad said when i was 6 yrs old , there have been plenty of low IQ idiots who won battles by pure luck and stupidity { HAN SOLO}, and lots who didn't, but historic  war generals and strategic geniuses and muti-move GM masters are alike ,they both limit failure and unforced error's by applying knowledge and an understanding of probable outcome's ,but utter defeat and humiliation is what makes a player stronger , i wish you all a victory next match .

Relating to the IQ and chess, I don’t think there is any correlation because IQ tests have more to do about critical reason, but chess is more about logic.

Just look at Kasparov. A chess supergenius, but when you look at his writings in other areas, such as politics, such writings are, shall we say, not genius level. Then there was Bobby Fisher. Possibly the best chess player ever, yet he could barely function in real life. 

I would disagree with you bringing up Kasparov and his political writings because although he has gotten himself into politics around the world, I wouldn't go as far as to say that politics is a correlation between IQ. The reason I think this is because political beliefs are shaped by the environment someone was raised in, not how smart they are. Although that is another discussion altogether.

     I can testify from personal experience (IQ 162, best rating 2100) that IQ is not the sine qua ultra of chess ability, nor does a high IQ mean intellectual superiority. IQ measures a certain type of problem-solving ability, which can be helpful in chess but is not the most important factor. Visualization--the ability to "see" something (like the position five moves into your calculations) clearly in your "mind's eye"--and visual memory--being able to remember the hundreds of positions you have seen and studied--are the most important chess "tool".

     Learning at an early age also helps immensely, as patterns are ingrained more deeply in the brain and so recalled more easily. Some prodigies seem to be born (or their neural-flow patterns initially developed) with thinking patterns very amenable to chess calculation.

     IQ, visual abilities, competetive instincts, and other talents helpful to chess development will of course only help if a person studies (hopefully with a good teacher) and works at chess.

     By the way, if chess was really like war, and generals, etc therefore had the ability to become fine players, Napoleon probably wouldn't have been such a poor chess player.

There is probably some correlation between IQ and chess skill, but I'm sure there are savants out there who would do poorly on an IQ test but succeed brilliantly at chess. Someone mentioned Fischer, a chess genius who could barely function in real life.

You need board presence to be a successful chess player, meaning when situations become competitive you perform to the top of your abilities. 

That's why you can have someone that is intelligent, with extremely good memory, capability of visualizing problems,  willingness to spend lots of time learning situations but when that person comes to a chess board in a competition they choke and fail.

 

actually the relation between iq and chess it’s practically non-existence. IQ and intelligence aren’t the same but having a higher IQ make easier to you to be an intelligent person and it’s the same for chess, having a hight IQ make easier for you to be good at chess but this doesn’t mean that a normal person can’t became a GM. For example magnus charlsen is estimated to have an IQ of 190 and he also have an excellent photographic intelligence, when he was a child he learned all countries capitals, flags and areas easily and he’s now the best chess player in the word with the highest elo. And the second highest elo is owned by hikaru nakamura that scored a iq of 102. Just 2 points over the world medium I personally have an iq of 132 and I’m a trash at chess and I can’t go over 700 elo even if I’m 30 points over the second best chess player (rated by elo). Chess is mostly theory, training and exercise

Correlation not causation