Definitely.

Definitely a couple hundred dollars...

double posting ? I am seeing this alot from you nongxha lately, what's up ? 

sounds like someone still has dial-up!

I think that there is a correlation  IQ/chess strenght, but, like with language, if you start to play chess old then someone who started earlier can play better even if he is less inteligent.  And , of course, training methods , hard work  and enviroment must be add to the equation 

A lot of good points made here...too many to quote them all.  I'm relatively new to the game of chess (about a year), but I think chess is largely about spatial-temporal reasoning, which effectively is a faculty of intelligence.  A few things: 1. Men are generally better spatial-temporal reasoners, (of course there are exceptions), while women tend to be better at language or analytic reasoning (of course there are exceptions), and this is evidenced in the physical differences in density of the corpus callosum of male and female brains.  2. A variety of activities require spatial reasoning, so things such as driving, math, listening to Mozart, even...enhance spatial reasoning, and those who perform well with numbers, are good drivers, or are classically trained in music, etc., can also perform well in chess.  Having said that, I think the only underlying factor here is enhancing that spatial temporal reasoning, which like anything else, can be done with work!  If you can do that, your chess vision will also improve. Combine that with dedicated study of the game and I see no reason why anyone couldn't excel at it.  

Ciljettu, that's simply not true.  It has been disputed but certainly not discredited.  In fact, it's been supported in recent years more so than ever before with the use of physiologic imaging and MRIs, which have produced consistent and significant differences in male/female corpus callosum structure.    

Ciljettu...As a woman who speaks three languages fluently, I can respectfully disagree with you :) haha.  Yes, I have scholarly links to support this, but they're through my university (clinical psych student), so I can't exactly post links that would be visible to all.  Wiki has a nice summary of primary sources on this, though.  The section on MRI's has a few...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_callosum#cite_note-17

That explains a lot. I knew the couch wouldn't fit through the door, but lost the argument about it and had to spend half an hour taking the legs off and pushing it at different angles until she was satisfied. Stupid language superiority.

Ciljettu, no problem.  I too have a bad sense of direction...but I'm not sure that involves much spatial reasoning at all..(this I have not researchered though...)...BUT, spatial reasoning has more to do with your manipulation and interaction with the surrounding objects in space.  So think of it like this:  If you're driving, lost on a city road, you're not surrounded by the objects (the familiar objects, that is) necessary for you to navigate through in order to guide you back home, but it's not spatial reasoning's fault.  You still use spatial reasoning while manuvering the vehicle around the unfamiliar location through the unknown surrounding objects.  You may even avoid an accident, or remain lost for hours, driving around aimlessly ... (all of which involve the use of spatial reasoning).  I'm honestly not sure, but I think a good sense of direction is largely based on memory, or if you've never been to that particular location, your ability to correctly read a map, or if all else fails, a good GPS ;)

When I am playing well I will be the first to tell you that I am a friggin' genius.  When I am playing badly (and by higher-rated player's standards, I always play badly), I am simply having a bad day.

I really don't understand all the debate- there either is a correlation or there isn't. The anecdotal stuff shouldn't even factor in, as correlations are about an overall pattern and outliers will always occur.

 This should be easy to look up, and I seem to remember there being a weak or possibly nonsignificant correlation between IQ and chess rating. But I'm too lazy to do so myself (another thing IQ doesn't take into account).

The only relationship between chess and IQ is this:

Really good players will be intelligent, BUT being very intelligent does not mean you will be a good player.

A lot of very smart people suck at chess, but I've never met a dimwit that played a good game.

If there is a correlation, I see no reason why it would have to be linear.  It is possible that there is a threshold level, and also that at some point the law of diminishing returns would set in.

Einstein had an IQ of 160.  Kasparov one of 180-190. Bobby Fischer 187.  A dean of a college I once knew - 80.   

Arnold Schwarzenneger 135.  George Bush and Ronald Reagan 96. 

  There's definately a correlation.   Here's a very close formula for your maximum rating -  10 x IQ plus 1000.   Of course this is depending on many years of hard, intense study and practice AND a strong desire and love for the game to reach this maximum, started at a younger age.     

http://www.kids-iq-tests.com/famous2.html

http://www.bezbrige.com/index.php/Interesting-Facts/the-iqs-of-famous-people.html

Correlation simply means that two variables are not statistically independent.

Words have definitions not only outside of, but more linguistically accurate than those inside of, narrow academic disciplines.

You may be a math guy, but blake is more correct than you.  Sorry, but it's true.

You mean PUSHING a door that says pull?

Haha. Yes I saw and changed that. Perhaps that was even more stupid than the act itself..?