“Intelligence is a way of acting. If you act intelligently you are smart, regardless of your IQ.” – Brian Tracy
If there is one thing that annoys almost everyone, it’s people who are boastful about their achievements and who tend to look down on other people. Someone who is arrogant and pompous is really no-one’s friend. In fact, they may be drawing more attention to their lack of emotional intelligence than their so-called above-average intelligence.
On the other hand, while it is silly to for anyone to boast about their intelligence, it is not essentially wrong to be interested in bolstering your knowledge and becoming wiser as you grow older.
Through seeking opportunities to learn, you will develop yourself to the point where you realise that smart individuals don’t always look for openings to show off their learnings and make others feel insignificant and small.
To find out whether you’re on the right path, in terms of acquiring new knowledge and self-development, there are various methods which can assess your level of intelligence.
By making use of IQ tests, students of sociology and other scientific, social and economic fields can measure in which domains or spheres people with the top IQs can be found. Today’s article, which follows this particular trend, seeks to answer the question of whether chess players have high IQs or not!
How is IQ Determined?
Before we consider which chess players may have recorded the highest IQ scores and if it is true that chess players generally score higher than other folks, it is important to have a look at how an IQ score is determined and assigned to an individual.
What is IQ?
This is the Intelligence Quotient, a way in which a person’s mental ability and the way that they think are determined and reduced to a score.
Oxford Reference defines IQ as “a number representing a person's reasoning ability (measured using problem-solving tests) as compared to the statistical norm or average for their age, taken as 100.”
These tests were introduced to ascertain which school learners required more assistance than others.
It is important to note that the way in which IQ is gauged has changed considerably over time and, dependent on where the tests originated, have been modified.
Currently, since the start of 2021, when assessing someone’s IQ, the following points are taken into consideration:
- Particular Questions are Posed: on IQ tests, a set of specific questions are asked which interrogate a person’s understanding and knowledge of subjects such as finances, historical events and figures, art, maths, vocabulary, etc. Some questions are more focussed on memory than knowledge.
- The Specific Formula: every IQ test, around the globe, utilises a particular formula. For example: mental age/chronological age x 100. The intellectual age of a person is calculated by a mathematical algorithm.
- Understanding the Scores: IQ scores are generally calculated as described above across the world. However, would you be able to tell a good IQ score from a bad one?
- 40 -54 is a pretty low score and denotes that someone is impaired.
- 55 – 69 means moderately impaired.
- 70 -79 indicates someone who is borderline impaired.
- A score of 80 – 89 denotes low average. 90 – 109 is denotes average.
- 110 - 119 is a high average score on an IQ test.
- 120 – 129 indicates superior intelligence.
- 130 – 149 denotes that an individual is advanced or gifted.
- 145 – 160 is the highest possible score and is referred to as highly developed and highly talented.
The top resources or websites to use, when attempting an IQ test, are the 123test and the IQ Society. Almost 90% of people, who take an IQ test, score between 70 and 130 points – anyone who scores higher is regarded as a genius!
How does this apply to the greatest chess players and their IQs? Keep reading to discover more!
Elite Players of the Game of Chess
Given that chess is very popular, played by millions of people across the globe, it is definitely a singular honour to be consider one of the best players of all time. The best players in the world compete at competitions and are allocated a score or classification by judges/observers who record and track their results. Their updated scores and rankings are uploaded to the International Chess Federation (FIDE) website.
Aside from becoming World Champion, the ultimate title that a chess player can receive is that of chess Grandmaster. This is a title that the individual retains for life. To be considered as a chess Grandmaster, an individual has to receive a chess Elo rating greater than 2 600. This rating system is named after its creator, Hungarian-American professor, Arpad Elo.
Without any further ado, let’s turn immediately to three of the greatest chess players of all time and share some information about their IQs:
- Magnus Carlsen: Carlsen, famed as the Mozart of chess and not even 30 years old yet and, has been hailed as one of the top five greatest chess players of all time. Carlsen is currently the World Chess Champion, World Blitz Chess Champion and World Rapid Chess Champion. In 2010, when he was just 19, Carlsen reached the top spot on the FIDE world rankings. He has an IQ of 190, which places him in the category of genius.
- Garry Kasparov: with an IQ of 190, Grand Master Garry Kasparov is thought of as one of the world’s most intelligent people. World Champion for 15 years, 1985 to 2000, Kasparov overshadowed all competition for 20 years and was touted as the greatest chess player of all time. Kasparov, with a career-best score of 2856, was only eclipsed by Magnus Carlsen, his protégé, with a higher score in 2014.
- Bobby Fischer: a very well-known figure in chess, Bobby Fischer is, thus far, the only American to have become World Chess Champion. The 11th World Champion, his epic contest against Boris Spassky in 1972, was for many the match of the century. Fischer’s published resources and books have encouraged many to take up the game of chess. His IQ score is 187.
The above three players are the greatest players of all time and all have IQ levels at the level of genius. Read on to learn more about the correspondence between chess players and outstanding IQ scores.
Do Keen Players of Chess Have Exceptional IQs?
While many people believe that practice makes perfect, many say that smart people play chess. People who are exceptionally intelligent, have a happy knack of doing well at everything they do and, it appears, that chess is just one of those activities!
The best chess players in the world, such as Carlsen, Kasparov and Fischer, most probably excelled at chess because they possess exceptional levels of intelligence.
You may still have lingering doubts as to whether there is a real correlation between a high IQ and chess players, or whether it’s pure coincidence that professional players have some of the top IQ scores! To cut to the chase, excellent chess players generally appear to be very intelligent and tend to have IQ scores far greater than 100.
Also, when psychologists visit the issue of whether there is a connection between chess flair and intelligence, they have to take cognisance of the four aspects below:
- Ability to process information rapidly
- Short-term memory
- Ability to problem-solve and think flexibly
- Comprehension knowledge
In recent times, researchers have found that the above-mentioned four features of intelligence have readily been encountered in people who excel at playing musical instruments, participate in artistic activities and, of course, play chess.
That smart people play chess has been an issue of debate for many, many years.
In fact, not only are intelligent people brilliant at chess, but they are also more readily attracted to chess than people who do don’t score very highly on IQ tests. One of the reasons behind this is the fact that they constantly seek to improve themselves and grow their skillset.
Even though exceptional intelligence is not a requirement for you to become a better chess player, it definitely won’t hurt, and this is also true of many other activities and games.
While practice may not be of fundamental importance for gifted individuals, through regular rehearsing and application, an individual will become better at playing a game like chess which sharpens important skills, such as logic, problem-solving and abstract thinking. These competencies contribute towards a more critically thinking individual, which may impact on the IQ very positively!
So, if you’ve been blessed with an IQ of above 110, you’ll find (if you haven’t already) that you pick up skills, such as how to play chess, more readily than others.
To conclude, it doesn’t matter whether you have an elevated IQ or not. Playing the beautiful game of chess will make you believe that you are brighter and may help you attain the abilities of an intelligent person. Let’s get to that black and white board today, Mate!
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