Does playing chess make you more rational?

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No:

In a beauty contest experiment with over 6,000 chess players, ranked from amateur to world class, we found that Grandmasters act very similar to other humans. This even holds true when they play exclusively against players of approximately their own strength. In line with psychological research on chess players’ thinking, we argue that they are not more rational in a game theoretic sense per se. Their skills are rather specific for their game.

Source: “Chess players’ performance beyond 64 squares: A case study on the limitations of cognitive abilities transfer” from Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics, MAGKS Papers on Economics #201019.

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