What is Garry Kasparov's IQ?
Garry Kasparov's IQ is 135, and unusually for this collection, that number comes from an actual test. In 1987–88 the German magazine Der Spiegel arranged a full battery — memory, spatial ability, abstract reasoning — supervised by an international team of psychologists.
A quick, honest note. This is one of the very few numbers here that comes from a real, supervised test. The label says verified because it is.
Where does the 135 number come from?
Kasparov is the exception that shows how thin the rest of this field is. Most celebrity IQ numbers trace back to a blog quoting a blog. His traces back to a magazine that hired psychologists, ran a controlled battery over a period of time, and published the methodology alongside the result.
The number itself is worth sitting with: 135 is an excellent score, around the 99th percentile — and it is far below what people expect of the man who held the world chess championship for fifteen years. Higher figures of 180 and 190 circulate widely online. They have no source.
That gap is the useful part. Chess strength at Kasparov's level draws on pattern libraries built over decades, positional judgement, preparation, competitive nerve and memory. General reasoning ability is one input among several, and it is clearly not the binding constraint at the top of the game.
How rare would a 135 IQ be?
If the 135 figure were literally true, it would be extraordinarily rare — rarer than1 in 102 people. That alone is a good reason to treat any confident-sounding celebrity IQ number with a raised eyebrow.
What a score like this would mean
A 135 would sit in the very superior · gifted range — about one person in 102. Roughly one person on a full bus.
Stop reading estimates about strangers. Sixteen questions and about ten minutes gets you a number that is actually yours.
Frequently asked questions
What is Garry Kasparov's IQ?
135, measured in a supervised study conducted by Der Spiegel in 1987–88 with a team of psychologists.
Is 135 high for a chess world champion?
It is an excellent score — roughly the 99th percentile. It is also lower than most people guess, which says more about our assumptions than about Kasparov.
Where do the claims of 190 come from?
Nowhere traceable. They circulate on forums and aggregator sites with no original source behind them.