Why do people still think chess is for smart people?

Looking at FIDE top 10, only 3 grandmasters have degrees. Ding Liren, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Sergey Karjakin.

According to a 2009 New York Times article, 21 percent of NBA athletes had earned undergraduate degrees.

So why are chess professionals considered smart while the same is not said for basketball players in the NBA?

This bait would be better if you did not try so hard. Leave NYT out of it, and also don't count them, but rather try something like: I think they are just autists who only focus on Chess im like smarter Lmaooo

If you want to become a top grandmaster nowadays, study and school stand it the way as it is a competing activity. You study chess instead of mathematics etc. Also travelling to tournaments at young age stands in the way of regular school attendance.

In the old days it was a bit different: Botvinnik, Euwe, Vidmar all had PhD degrees. Even then dr. Alekhine was said to play law and study chess.

NBA is a different story: at USA high schools & universities if you are good at sport you get a degree no matter how smart or how stupid you are.

On another note: a computer can learn chess in 24 hours. That disproves that chess players are smart.

#1: 3/10 = 30%. Your own argument indicates that in general chess players are smarter than NBA players.
#3: Computers can do lots of things better and faster than any human--without any learning. Chameleons can alter their outward appearance, they must be smarter than both.

The problem with your flawed logic is your assumption that intelligence is the same as having a bachelor's degree.

#1

That logic is pretty flawed. If someone want's to have a full time chess career, why would they even bother wasting time getting a degree anyways?

#3

So every mathematician, etc are stupid as computers can do shit faster? Lol ok.

@xi_32

Never been much of a Kanye fan but the school spirit song really hits the nail on the head for this one :l

You keep it going man
You keep those books rolling
You pick up all those books that you're gonna read and not remember
And you roll, man
You get that associate's degree, okay?
Then you get your bachelor's
Then you get your masters
Then you get your masters' masters
Then you get your doctorate
You go man!
And then when everyone says quit
You show them those degrees, man
When everyone says "Hey, you're not working, you're not making any money"
You say "You look at my degrees, and you look at my life
Yeah, I'm 52! So what?
Hate all you want, but I'm smart, I'm so smart
And I'm in school
All these guys out here making money all these ways
And I'm spending mine to be smart!
You know why?
Cause when I die buddy
You know what's gonna keep me warm?
That's right, those degrees!

Plenty of broke useless people with degrees. Plenty of savants that didnt even graduate high school.

Being book smart does not necessarily mean you are actually intelligent.

3/10 is more than 21%... Facepalm
And even given that, we should not measure "smartness" by university degrees.

@Rrhyddhad
lol. not sure whats worse; OP making that mistake or no one else realizing it till you.

And agreed.

We should obviously measure smartness by Height x Weight x Income x Fide Rating - Lichess Rating + social security number.

@DollaHollaAtcha : I realized and posted in in #4.