<p>Are there formal studies relating chess performance (e.g. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ELO</a>) and IQ? I found a proposed <a href="http://www.jlevitt.dircon.co.uk/iq.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Levitt equation</a> (also mentioned in <a href="https://thechessworld.com/articles/healthpsycology/chess-rating-and-iq-score-correlation/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">thechessworld</a>):</p>

<p><code>Elo ~ (10 x IQ) + 1000</code></p>

<p>Is there some systematic evidence to back this formula, and/or propose a better one, and how well do such regressions fit, i.e. what's their goodness of fit (R), or alternatively stating this last part: how well does ELO (or some equivalent measure) correlate with IQ?</p>

<p><strong>Regarding the question linked: this one is not even remotely a duplicate. The other question asks if playing chess can <em>improve</em> IQ. (and the answer seems to be no.) None of the answers there even talk how much IQ affect chess performance. The answer to my question is a qualified yes, by the way. Just think of the limit case where IQ were "set at birth", and your chess performance depended 100% just on IQ. You could still play chess all day and your IQ wouldn't change.</strong></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-18T10:46:18.070Z
Didn't take me long find a good study: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160913124722.htm I'll summarize it  later if someone doesn't beat me to it.
got trolled too much this week
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2018-07-18T16:23:01.583Z
Related: https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/15764/7001
Arnon Weinberg
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-18T21:56:56.187Z
Possible duplicate of [Chess to enhance human cognitive abilities?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/questions/15764/chess-to-enhance-human-cognitive-abilities)
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-18T22:06:00.413Z
@ChrisRogers: read that other question carefully. This is not even remotely a duplicate.
got trolled too much this week
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-18T22:10:51.727Z
**Why should chess improve your intellect?** is to me the same as **Are there formal studies relating chess performance and IQ?**
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-20T15:45:58.247Z
@ChrisRogers It's two separate questions to ask: (1) Does chess training *improve* cognitive performance? (2) Does high cognitive ability result in better chess playing? Two quite separate questions to tackle.
Eff
<intelligence><iq><chess>
Chess performance and IQ
got trolled too much this week
# Chess performance and IQ

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-07-18)

Are there formal studies relating chess performance (e.g. [ELO](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system)) and IQ? I found a proposed [Levitt equation](http://www.jlevitt.dircon.co.uk/iq.htm) (also mentioned in [thechessworld](https://thechessworld.com/articles/healthpsycology/chess-rating-and-iq-score-correlation/)):

`Elo ~ (10 x IQ) + 1000`

Is there some systematic evidence to back this formula, and/or propose a better one, and how well do such regressions fit, i.e. what's their goodness of fit (R), or alternatively stating this last part: how well does ELO (or some equivalent measure) correlate with IQ?

**Regarding the question linked: this one is not even remotely a duplicate. The other question asks if playing chess can *improve* IQ. (and the answer seems to be no.) None of the answers there even talk how much IQ affect chess performance. The answer to my question is a qualified yes, by the way. Just think of the limit case where IQ were "set at birth", and your chess performance depended 100% just on IQ. You could still play chess all day and your IQ wouldn't change.**

**Tags:** intelligence, iq, chess

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Didn't take me long find a good study: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160913124722.htm I'll summarize it  later if someone doesn't beat me to it.  
> **username_1**: Related: https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/15764/7001  
> **username_2**: Possible duplicate of [Chess to enhance human cognitive abilities?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/questions/15764/chess-to-enhance-human-cognitive-abilities)  
> **username_0**: @ChrisRogers: read that other question carefully. This is not even remotely a duplicate.  
> **username_2**: **Why should chess improve your intellect?** is to me the same as **Are there formal studies relating chess performance and IQ?**  
> **username_3**: @ChrisRogers It's two separate questions to ask: (1) Does chess training *improve* cognitive performance? (2) Does high cognitive ability result in better chess playing? Two quite separate questions to tackle.  

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