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Chess players' fame versus their merit
M V Simkin1, V P Roychowdhury1
1Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1594, USA.
Applied Economics Letters
|October 20, 2015
Summary
Chess player fame correlates with skill. This study found that a chess player's fame, measured by Google hits, grows exponentially with their skill level, determined by Elo ratings.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Psychology
- Sports Analytics
Background:
- Understanding the relationship between performance and public recognition is crucial in various fields.
- Chess, with its objective skill measurement (Elo ratings), provides a unique model for such studies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify the relationship between chess players' merit (skill) and their public fame.
- To determine if fame correlates linearly or non-linearly with chess expertise.
Main Methods:
- Selected a pool of international chess title holders born between 1901-1943.
- Calculated player merit using Elo ratings to determine expected game scores.
- Measured player fame via Google search engine results (hits).
Main Results:
- A moderate positive correlation (0.38) was found between fame and merit.
- A stronger correlation (0.61) emerged between merit and the logarithm of fame.
- This indicates that fame increases exponentially with chess skill.
Conclusions:
- Public recognition (fame) in chess is not linearly proportional to skill.
- Fame appears to grow exponentially as a player's merit increases.
- This non-linear relationship may apply to other domains where performance and recognition intersect.
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