A popular American newsletter researched and published an article headlined: “27 geniuses with the highest IQs in history”. Two chess players, Garry Kasparov with an IQ of 190 and Judit Polgar IQ 170, from Russia and Hungary respectively, made the coveted list.
I am surprised the world famous Bobby Fischer did not make the list. Fischer possessed an IQ of 160, according to Frank Brady in his book Profile of a Prodigy. He was an extraordinary chess player; an indefatigable worker. There was a blackout in the midst of an international tournament and naturally all the chess clocks were stopped until the lights were restored. Fischer’s opponent objected to his clock being stopped. He said Fischer had the chess board in his head and he was calculating variation after variation until it became a tree of variations which included ordinary moves which he discarded right up to the impossible candidate moves. When the tournament director approached Fischer, he said it was true and agreed his clock should be restarted in the darkness.