Hacker News Reader

I definitely think you’re on to something.

Chess rating, with sufficient number of games, over a long duration, is an excellent measure of progress or lack thereof.

It could also serve as an early warning indicator for Alzheimer’s or neurodegenerative diseases, especially bullet (1 minute) chess which relies both on motor coordination and rapid thinking ability.

View on HN

i really dont think it could .. if you pick a few random users and check their rating curves on lichess it doesnt take long to see that for many, their best rating was at some point in the past. i think this is because their interest in chess wanes over time and they lose rating rather than because their intelligence is decreasing.

i think users that fixate on chess as an intelligence test risk misattributing their performance to their capacity because they do not understand all the factors of performance.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com