Is the game of chess a decent measure of someone's natural intellect or logic ability?

Question

Is the game of chess a decent measure of someone's natural intellect or logic ability?

Answer 1

Logic, yes.  Intellect, no.

Answer 2

Not really.  At least not chess specifically.  Being good at chess  comes with practice.  Someone with outstanding logical ability or intellect can help them learn the game easier, but if you don't put the time in to learn the ins and outs of the game then logic only gets you so far.

Answer 3

No.

I'm a former Tournament player and Tournament Director.  Good players can be morons who happen to be good at chess.

Answer 4

Definately logic.

Answer 5

Over the last 40 years, I've seen some very ignorant people who play chess very well.  I believe it is a myth that Chess is for smart people.

For example, I knew an illiterate 7-11 clerk in New York who hustled chess with customer's in suits.  This clerk wasn't smart enough to balance a check book, but knew how to hustle chess at $20 a game from Wall Street suits who made $200,000 a year.  That kind of chess requires something, but I wouldn't call it intellect or logic.

Answer 6

Yes, but it's not the only way, and it's not 100% accurate.

Some really logic/intelligent people can be really bad, for a simple reason : they think chess sucks, and they won't ever give it a real try.

An average, but determined player can easily overpass the intelligent bored player.

Answer 7

I’d like to think this is so because I’m pretty good at it for no other reasons.

One day, I ventured into Yahoo Games, ended up in Chess, saw how the pieces moved and from then on, I was hooked. I never really learned formally but my ability to know what my opponent is thinking, before he even think it, enables me to win most of my games. It’s like I see the ending from a mile away and he’s standing in the fog.

I only play for fun and you can easily beat me if I get bored (some games are just lame and I resign because this may be my only life) or if you’re really a committed person who studied the game a lot, the strategies, etc….

That said, natural intellect or logic ability does not necessarily makes you a social person with lots of friends, more not than so.

Answer 8

Of course The logic ability, See at HINDU : Sultan Khan. he was the best player of Indian

Answer 9

In part, yes it is.  One's natural intellect involves the ability to crunch data, to apply known principles to new situations, to think creatively and to memorize useful information.  These are abilities that characterize the successful chess player.

Moreover, logic is the ability to proceed from known premises to as-yet unestablished conclusions in a way that adheres to reason.  Chess relies upon this ability with every move that is selected (naturally excluding memorized theory).  One must take the position of the board and apply what he knows about the game of chess to determine the proper move.

So, I would answer the question in the affirmative, but I would point out that intelligence takes many forms, and it does not follow from the fact that chess requires intelligence and logic that the inability to grasp chess concepts quickly reflects poorly upon the natural intellect or logical ability of the player.  To the contrary, one may have  poor visualization skills that make memorizing chess theory difficult, but this same person may be able to sit down at the piano and play any song he's ever heard.  Intellectual ability takes many forms, and chess taps into only some of them.  However, with respect to these forms, I do think it is a decent measure of intellect and logical ability.

Answer 10

No.  Practice is 99+% of it.  And the whole thing's a bit difficult to say anyway; after all, Bobby Fischer was champion of the world (with an IQ of 187)...and he's a Jewish n**i.  Logic ability?

Answer 11

Chess is  fairly specific to analyzing decision trees in a spatial environment.  With experience it also uses pattern recognition skills.

Highly skilled chess players will also build skill via studying standard positions and moves in the game to identify when they happen; not much logic there.

However, playing chess likely helps stretch the brain a little.