The relationship between cognitive ability and chess skill: A comprehensive meta-analysis

•Gf, Gc, Gsm, and Gs all correlated positively and significantly with chess skill.•The relationship between Gf and chess skill was moderated by age and skill level.•Chess skill correlated positively with numerical, visuospatial, and verbal ability.

Why are some people more skilled in complex domains than other people? Here, we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the relationship between cognitive ability and skill in chess. Chess skill correlated positively and significantly with fluid reasoning (Gf) (r− = 0.24), comprehension-knowledge (Gc) (r− = 0.22), short-term memory (Gsm) (r− = 0.25), and processing speed (Gs) (r− = 0.24); the meta-analytic average of the correlations was (r− = 0.24). Moreover, the correlation between Gf and chess skill was moderated by age (r− = 0.32 for youth samples vs. r− = 0.11 for adult samples), and skill level (r− = 0.32 for unranked samples vs. r− = 0.14 for ranked samples). Interestingly, chess skill correlated more strongly with numerical ability (r− = 0.35) than with verbal ability (r− = 0.19) or visuospatial ability (r− = 0.13). The results suggest that cognitive ability contributes meaningfully to individual differences in chess skill, particularly in young chess players and/or at lower levels of skill.