Nick wrote:
Martin Brown wrote:

I don't see much point in using the original combined IQ test now.
But there is a point in considering scores in the separated tests that
cover mathermatical, linguistic, visuo-spatial reasoning etc. If people
know what their strengths are they can make better use of them.

I have yet to meet any strong chess player that didn't have
powerful innate pattern matching and abstract reasoning ability.

I doubt that a strong chess player necessarily has 'powerful'
'abstract reasoning ability' in every field.

I agree entirely. But I suspect that you could still concoct a test
that would detect some of the required innate skills. One simple
candidate test that I think might just work is that strong chess
players can often read a newspaper up side down. Try it and see...

The papers that purport to show no correlation of visuospatial memory
and chess appear to me to have asked the wrong question. Memory is the
part we all have to work at.

It is the pattern matching to see the whole board as a subset of motifs
and their long range possibilities that is the key. Combine that with
some decent tactical skill...

Kasparov apparently has spent considerable time thinking
about history, and he has come to some absurd conclusions
with regard to his support of the 'New Chronology'.
As for Bobby Fischer's 'abstract reasoning ability', well...

Worth noting here that mental illness seems to afflict top
mathematicians and chess players to a greater extent than in the
general population.

And anecdotally mathematicians are often also strong chess players

I know some mathematicians who say they are weak chess players.
For whatever it's worth, most of these mathematicians are women.

Perhaps they understate their skill level for social reasons. My
comment was based on the fact that I met a lot of my school chess team
opposite numbers later at university and most of them were reading
mathematics. There were a few notable exceptions.

Regards,
Martin Brown