Why do people still think chess is for smart people?

@General_Yummy

What about the Chat messages when playing a game with a bot?

Those are programmed.

Hence, it would not be ignorant of someone to think a Bot could also be programmed to post on the forum....as they certainly would be able to program a bot to do this :l=

I bet you have a degree dont you.

@Morozov

How is this anymore of a troll thread than every other thread on here?

I have got 37 degrees (C).

Furthermore I think chess, at the grandmaster level, is no longer an indicator of someone who can be successful in life. I believe most grandmasters are relatively poor in comparison to someone who spends their time doing something more productive like getting a college degree. Unless you are in the top 100, grandmasters make less than 80K a year which is a pittance.

@xi_32
saying that the average person with a bachelor's degree earns about $51,000 a year I'm gonna have to say...no not really :l=

I will say that I agree with the sentiment of chess being a past time rather than something one should devote your life to though; but I guess that all depends on what you seek out of life.

I think it has to do with how chess stimulates thinking that most people do not exercise. Most people (in my experience, even people with degrees) are dumber than a box of rocks to anything outside their "profession", Being "smart" is relative to the people around you even then its hard to gauge. I've bounced around so many jobs in the past 3 years from pouring coffee to pouring concrete and hanging drywall. The better the profession of someone the shittier the person they are ( at least up here in NY).
To be successful you must overcharge for the services you provide and charge a fee for service you don't and pay your help minimum.

Darksouls, I hear and understand your comment. I believe the following is also true. The easy way to success is to be a smart person competing against idiots / lazy people. It is hard to be successful when you are competing against other smart/hardworking people.

@DollaHollaAtcha "Furthermore I think chess, at the grandmaster level, is no longer an indicator of someone who can be successful in life." If you think this is a serious discussion and not some edgy teenager trying to be provocative then feel free to discuss. I however do not think that claims like the average Footballer is smarter than a chess player merits a anwser.

Edit: @Darksouls that is a strange way to define success.

@xi_32 lets say we have two players call them x and y, assume they start at the same time at the same rating. Player x is a smart hardworking fella , studies tactics, openings, and some endgame in their spare time with a few games added in. Player y is a fool with deep pockets and hires a coach who lets just say is a titled player that charges 100/hr for lessons. Fast forward a year which player would be better?.. I would put my money on player Y every day of the week. Being smart and a hard worker doesn't mean you will be successful or as successful as those who have the means to acquire better tools from the start. I tend to relate it to landscaping companies one guy starting out by himself with basic tools to get the job done with a lot of labor vs a guy who starts out with a dump truck and a small piece of heavy equipment (this will be the guy to put the previous guy out of work easily until that guy buys the same tools as the other guy hes at a serious disadvantage.

@tpr

"On another note: a computer can learn chess in 24 hours. That disproves that chess players are smart."

that only proves your lack of understanding or baiting, more than anything else.

@dimitris_masikas

I think you can find some stupid (or at least dead-average) gms. But from the point of the overall distribution you are probably right. I don't know if there ever was a study with a large enough sample of GM's

Let's say, the GM's all have very high chess intelligence. But how much of it is a narrow domain-specific set of skills and how much is transferable?

Another question would be: Is the amount of transferable skills you gain higher in the first half of your chess develoment? I'd think so (background/age .. plays a huge role though in an individual setting).

@Darksouls

I agree 100%! That's why they tell the students in the Ivy League to check their privilege!