user19877: I have read many times that Bobby Fischer had an IQ of 180. Did he really have that high of an IQ? Does anyone have proof that he was ever even tested (like a citation from an early book about him)?
Sure, Fischer was an intelligent guy, but I tend to think that someone once made up that number, and it just stuck. Lately, I have seen the same, suspiciously rounded, number given to Kasparov and Carlsen.
A 180 IQ is so rare that most people have probably never met someone, who was officially tested, with such a high IQ. Thus, maybe they just assumed it must be super high, and threw out a number. 180 is in the 99.9999712895 percentile. 140 is already considered a genius and is in the 99.3790320141 percentile.
How can one even tell by just listening to his interviews if he was that intelligent? Is there any legitimate way to prove that claim or disprove it?

user20925: No.  
I met Fischer twice at age 11 and 13.  
He displayed nothing at all, which indicated he was not any sort of genius. Back then, his chess was still only good, not outstanding.  
He was more an idiot savant who exceeded at one thing and was quite average at best at so many other, more important, things than chess. 

user27059: As a psychologist, I don't see how he possibly could have scored a 180 IQ on the Stanford-Binet. He was a notoriously lousy student at anything other than chess and that test measures knowledge across a broad spectrum. On interview shows later in his life, his vocabulary was equivalent to an average eighth grader. (He read in several languages but spoke all of them poorly--including English.) His understanding of the world was superficial at best. You have to be intellectually gifted in a number of areas to attain a genius IQ. This he was not. He fits into the category of idiot savant more than genius, and I've evaluated plenty of both.

user-1: First of all, that test is considered by some psychologists a pseudoscience that doesn't measure intelligence at all.
I have Asperger disorder and hypercalculia as Bobby supposedly had. I once did the test after coming from a pub, having drunk a couple of beers, and I scored 133. 
Far from being a genius, I am very stupid in most of facets of life; that test just measures one of the nine types of intelligence (logical-mathematical).

Source
I don't know if Bobby scored 180, but I can trust it. Why so? My top pick on tactics trainer is 2400 on chess.com (while I am a poor 1800 ELO player, my spatial intelligence is really bad). Bobby probably would reach >3000 on tactics, and probably demolish that test, being close to the highest possible score, 200. 
I guess many GMs or intelligence officers could score 180 if I got 133 drunk. Carlsen has 2900 ELO in blitz games, that tells a bit about his genius on logical intelligence and that test is also timed.

user14767: From Quora: What was Bobby Fischer's IQ? (2018):

Short answer: In 1958, when Fischer sat a Stanford-Binet test at the age of 15, his score was 180-187. But in today’s terms, Bobby Fischer’s IQ should be 148–155 on the Fifth edition of the Stanford-Binet test, and 150-160 on the WISC-V/WAIS-IV tests administered by Mensa.

The only reference provided for the 180-187 score is a link to the webpage The Mind of Bobby Fischer by Frank Brady where it states that 

In previous writings I have cited Fischer's I.Q. as in the range of 180, a very high genius. My source of information is impeccable: a highly regarded political scientist who coincidentally happened to be working in the grade adviser's office at Erasmus Hall - Bobby Fischer's high school in Brooklyn - at the time Fischer was a student there. He had the opportunity to study Fischer's personal records and there is no reason to believe his figure is inaccurate. Some critics have claimed that other teachers at Erasmus Hall at that time remember the figure to be much lower; but who the teachers are and what figures they remember have never been made clear.

The given rationales for the deflation of the score per today's standard are the Flynn effect based on a large meta-analysis that every year general intelligence increases by 1/3 IQ points, and the revised editions of the S-B test.

19877: <p>I have read many times that Bobby Fischer had an IQ of 180. Did he really have that high of an IQ? Does anyone have proof that he was ever even tested (like a citation from an early book about him)?</p>
<p>Sure, Fischer was an intelligent guy, but I tend to think that someone once made up that number, and it just stuck. Lately, I have seen the same, suspiciously rounded, number given to Kasparov and Carlsen.</p>
<p>A 180 IQ is so rare that most people have probably never met someone, who was officially tested, with such a high IQ. Thus, maybe they just assumed it must be super high, and threw out a number. 180 is in the 99.9999712895 percentile. 140 is already considered a genius and is in the 99.3790320141 percentile.</p>
<p>How can one even tell by just listening to his interviews if he was that intelligent? Is there any legitimate way to prove that claim or disprove it?</p>
 20925: <p>No.  </p>

<p>I met Fischer twice at age 11 and 13.  </p>

<p>He displayed nothing at all, which indicated he was not any sort of genius. Back then, his chess was still only good, not outstanding.  </p>

<p>He was more an idiot savant who exceeded at one thing and was quite average at best at so many other, more important, things than chess. </p>
 27059: <p>As a psychologist, I don't see how he possibly could have scored a 180 IQ on the Stanford-Binet. He was a notoriously lousy student at anything other than chess and that test measures knowledge across a broad spectrum. On interview shows later in his life, his vocabulary was equivalent to an average eighth grader. (He read in several languages but spoke all of them poorly--including English.) His understanding of the world was superficial at best. You have to be intellectually gifted in a number of areas to attain a genius IQ. This he was not. He fits into the category of idiot savant more than genius, and I've evaluated plenty of both.</p>
 -1: <p>First of all, that test is considered by some psychologists a pseudoscience that doesn't measure intelligence at all.</p>

<p>I have Asperger disorder and hypercalculia as Bobby supposedly had. I once did the test after coming from a pub, having drunk a couple of beers, and I scored 133. </p>

<p>Far from being a genius, I am very stupid in most of facets of life; that test just measures one of the nine types of intelligence (logical-mathematical).</p>

<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ktfw6.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ktfw6.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p><a href="https://blog.adioma.com/9-types-of-intelligence-infographic/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Source</a></p>

<p>I don't know if Bobby scored 180, but I can trust it. Why so? My top pick on tactics trainer is 2400 on chess.com (while I am a poor 1800 ELO player, my spatial intelligence is really bad). Bobby probably would reach >3000 on tactics, and probably demolish that test, being close to the highest possible score, 200. </p>

<p>I guess many GMs or intelligence officers could score 180 if I got 133 drunk. Carlsen has 2900 ELO in blitz games, that tells a bit about his genius on logical intelligence and that test is also timed.</p>
 14767: <p>From <a href="https://www.quora.com/What-was-Bobby-Fischers-IQ" rel="noreferrer">Quora: What was Bobby Fischer's IQ?</a> (2018):</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Short answer: In 1958, when Fischer sat a Stanford-Binet test at the age of 15, <strong>his score was 180-187.</strong> But in today’s terms, Bobby Fischer’s IQ should be <strong>148–155 on the Fifth edition of the Stanford-Binet test</strong>, and <strong>150-160 on the WISC-V/WAIS-IV tests</strong> administered by Mensa.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The only reference provided for the 180-187 score is a link to the webpage <a href="http://bobbyfischer.net/bobby02.html" rel="noreferrer">The Mind of Bobby Fischer</a> by Frank Brady where it states that </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>In previous writings I have cited Fischer's I.Q. as in the range of 180, a very high genius. My source of information is impeccable: a highly regarded political scientist who coincidentally happened to be working in the grade adviser's office at Erasmus Hall - Bobby Fischer's high school in Brooklyn - at the time Fischer was a student there. He had the opportunity to study Fischer's personal records and there is no reason to believe his figure is inaccurate. Some critics have claimed that other teachers at Erasmus Hall at that time remember the figure to be much lower; but who the teachers are and what figures they remember have never been made clear.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The given rationales for the deflation of the score per today's standard are the <a href="http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/current_use.htm" rel="noreferrer">Flynn effect</a> based on a <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1984-11828-001" rel="noreferrer">large meta-analysis</a> that every year general intelligence increases by 1/3 IQ points, and the revised editions of the S-B test.</p>
