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What is the IQ of Vishwanathan Anand
If you look around the web, you’ll find that every elite player has an IQ over 180. These were lower before the internet when the claims had to be made in books and articles with editors having some oversight. The reason for the IQ inflation is that none of the claims are based on testing.
Garry Kasparov took a test under the supervision of Spiegel, a German magazine. It was just above 130. Hikaru Nakamura did a self-test while streaming (not a good way to get an accurate result) and came up with 102.
All these claims that one finds on the internet are based on the assumption that IQ and chess skill are strongly linked. Actual research by psychologists (the scholars for whom Intelligence is an academic specialty) found that at best there is a weak correlation. There is a moderate correlation with some aspects of the test, especially math. But surprisingly no correlation to spatial aptitude. GMs do have exceptional memories, as do most prodigies in fields like music.
As a psychologist who has studied and administered many an IQ test, Id add that it very much depends which test you use. The mainstream ones are based around general IQ, combining various factors including verbal IQ. While more specific tests would only target ones ability at pattern recognition, memory etc.
I'll admit I havent read the literature on this topic in regards to Chess, but even if Hikaru was only at 102 (which I highly doubt) he might actually be closer to 150 on the aspects that would translate to Chess, and 50 on the areas that dont. That is of course entirely speculation. But my point here is that IQ has sub-categories.
Id still love to see a list of top players with their ratings along side their IQs (with a breakdown of the various sub-categories for a clearer understanding)
Id still love to see a list of top players with their ratings along side their IQs (with a breakdown of the various sub-categories for a clearer understanding)
There are plenty of these lists, but all, or nearly all, of the scores are speculative. They are not based on tests, but on the assumption that chess skill indicates high IQ.
He was the world's leader but no one knows what his hidden IQ is.