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Subject: Re: CCC Members are Probably Very Strong Chess Players and NOT AVERAGE

Author: Ramón Martínez

Date: 07:09:45 12/02/99

Go up one level in this thread


On December 02, 1999 at 10:00:05, Chris Carson wrote:

>On December 02, 1999 at 09:32:03, Ramón Martínez wrote:
>
>>On December 01, 1999 at 16:22:15, Fernando Villegas wrote:
>>
>>>On December 01, 1999 at 14:18:09, Timothy J. Frohlick wrote:
>>>
>>>>On December 01, 1999 at 12:59:53, blass uri wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On December 01, 1999 at 11:47:08, Timothy J. Frohlick wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>><snipped>
>>>>>>but I can't touch the masters.  Why?  I am not smart enough. I only have an IQ
>>>>>>of 137 and that is slipping every day.
>>>>>
>>>>>I do not think that most of the masters have more than IQ 137.
>>>>>It is a question of learning the game and talent for chess and not of IQ.
>>>>>
>>>>>I believe that my talent for chess is not very good because I cannot see many
>>>>>moves forward without seeing the board.
>>>>>
>>>>>Inspite of this fact I did a very good result in my last tounament including a
>>>>>daw with 2 masters and a win against one master and my final performance out of
>>>>>7 games was 2183 (The masters were not very strong masters(rating only
>>>>>2200-2300)) and my rating is going to be again more than 2000
>>>>>
>>>>>Uri
>>>>
>>>>Uri,
>>>>
>>>>You are partially correct.  I can beat the snot out of my 170 IQ M.D. or PhD
>>>>associates on the chessboard.  I think that if they practiced though it would be
>>>>the other way around.  I really do think that at the high master level of chess
>>>>you do need "smarts".  Really smart is at the level of Sir Isaac Newton or
>>>>Steven Hawkings or John Von Neumann---That is so bright that one would think of
>>>>these folks as Martians.  You can probably play better chess than these guys.
>>>>
>>>>I am also very good at mopping the floor with the smart people when it comes to
>>>>blitz chess.  There again, I think that it is merely a matter of practice. If I
>>>>played Anand or Miles or Benjamin at blitz I would go down in flames in twenty
>>>>moves or less.
>>>>
>>>>The truth is that neither of us is as dumb as they think they are. My point was
>>>>that CCC members are not "average" chess players and that,indeed, they can more
>>>>frequently beat the machines. Average chess players usually get slaughtered by
>>>>the top chess programs.
>>>>
>>>>Respectfully,
>>>>
>>>>TJ Frohlick
>>>
>>>
>>>Respect to that relation between IQ and chess hability, I remember a boy in my
>>>scholl that was near moron IQ level, but he beat all of us almost without
>>>thinking. It seems chess talent is a very specific thing that can be or not
>>>related with IQ, that is a measure that reflects another kind of intelectual
>>>endeavour. Nevertheles, if you see what kind of people are high level players,
>>>it is truth they tend to be at the same time highly intelligent, but more
>>>because they are high level pros or people with high level studies; tha's the
>>>reason they tend to be people in the region of 135 IQ or more. But even in that
>>>level there is not correlation in the strict sense of the word, that is to say,
>>>is not the case that the 175 IQ master plays better than the 135 IQ master; they
>>>all are smart people with different kinds of minds oriented to different kinds
>>>of task.  In fact, once you are an adult and you have followed certain
>>>professional path, all that thing measured with IQ tends to lose his importance
>>>or sense; you have not anymore general potential, but you have "programmed" your
>>>resources to some task and even because of that it could be that you lose some
>>>hability to solve fast enough IQ test as when you was young. But, are you less
>>>intelligent? BTW, in the school I had a very similar IQ to yours -143- and
>>>nevertheless that almost-moron boy all the time cutted me in pieces on the
>>>board. Of course I knew nothing about IQ, I just got confused to see how bad a
>>>player was I and how good was he, the recognized idiot of the group. So is life.
>>>Now I am not sure what idiocy really means. Perhaps to expend so much time here?
>>>Fernando
>>
>>I agree, Fernando. My IQ (measured 2 or 3 years ago) was about 148, and I
>>regularly get beatten by friends which have 108-115. Once I read in a review of
>>a book called Chess Genious (I think that was the title) that the soviets had
>>done research in that particular relation between IQ's and chess potential.
>>According to their discoveries, a high IQ does noy guarantee success at the
>>board but, on the contrary, almost all grandmaster level players that submitted
>>to the study did have high IQ's. The reasearchers said thgat the maximum chess
>>potential, given ideal conditions, could be calculated with the following and
>>simple formula: IQ x 10 + 1000. This kind of simplification seems like nonsense
>>to me (we should remember that the leader of the enigma code decoding team, a
>>genious with over 200 IQ, did never managed to get even a club player level,
>>though he tried hard at times). The fact is that there is no correlation yet
>>proven between high IQ's and success (in any field), specially on those areas
>>that require creativity.
>
>I am a licensed professional in this field and conduct IQ assessments on
>a regular basis.  IQ is mental age/chronological age.  Most IQ assessments
>measure knowledge attainment (verbal and analytical skills).  An IQ of 100
>should provide most people (on average) enough ability to master most
>skills (interest and effort are necessary components for success).  It is
>not uncommon for a person with an average IQ (75 to 115) to out perform
>a person with a higher IQ if the person with the lower IQ has an interest and
>puts in the effort.  An average (normal) IQ is not a limiting factor.
>
>Also,  IQ is not static.  You can increase your IQ by increasing your
>knowledge (mental age/chronological age).  Your IQ may lower if you do
>not use your mental skills.
>
>I have not seen any valid IQ assessments (GRE, SAT, ...) that cover
>chess knowledge, so I do not believe that IQ is a reliable indicator
>of chess playing skill.  However, IQ does give some indication that
>a person is capable of learning if they have the desire and put in the
>time to do so.
>
>I could go on about IQ and teach a 16 week course on IQ assessment, but
>I hope you get the general idea.  :)
>
>Just FYI.  :)
>
>Best Regards,
>Chris Carson, MA, Licensed Professional Counselor (Texas, USA)

Thank for your very interesting comments, Chris.



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