Assuming your samples are not biased, 1000 subjects are generally far more than are necessary to demonstrate an effect. People who complain about sample size are generally not that well-educated in statistics.
A well-educated person in statistics would also mention that it requires a certain class of distribution. This is one of Nassim Taleb's favourite subject (imagine computing the average net worth of a random group of people and suddenly Bill Gates is among them)
>But why this matters is there a challenge judging intelligence cross cultures?
I don't know for sure, but my own anecdotal experience is that yes, there most certainly are challenges when a person from one culture assesses the intelligence of someone else from another culture.
It would be nice to know whether this is supported by scientific evidence, or whether this is simply my own personal bias at play.