LAUSR

Abstract Chess is an appropriate model to study ability and non-ability traits as related with performance because it bears intellectual and emotional demanding requirements. With a group of amateur chess players (n = 100), the current study addressed two interrelated aims. First, we assessed whether the three broad PEN personality factors (psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism), and emotion regulation traits (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) differentiated chess players from the general population. Second, we compared the association of domain knowledge and personality/emotion traits with chess skill. The main findings indicated that chess players scored lower in neuroticism and higher in expressive suppression compared with the general population. Moreover, chess knowledge related in a greater extent with chess skill than personality/emotion regulation traits, even though extraversion explained additional variability in chess skill. Overall, the findings suggest that non-ability traits may be influential in the selection of the chess environment. Besides, the findings corroborate the stronger impact of cognitive ability than personality traits on intellectual performance found in other domains.