# Is chess a sport?



## scarpia (Nov 23, 2009)

The world championship just ended with Anand sucessfully defending his title against Gelfand. It had to go to a tiebreak. They do this speed chess tiebreaker now. That seems odd. The winner is really the world speed chess champion. Shouldn't they just play till they drop? Like in the first Karpov- Kasparov match that got called off when Karpov was on the edge of a breakdown. Whatever. Is chess a sport? Chess is a recognized sport of the International Olympic Committee.


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## ChangeInProgress (Apr 23, 2012)

By my definition no. But im not part of the committee.


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## sansd (Mar 22, 2006)

No, it is not an athletic activity.


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## Tangerine (Feb 16, 2010)

I'm not sure, technically there is physical movement involved, but how much movement is considered enough to be a sport? It's probably debatable, and I don't know the answer.


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## sansd (Mar 22, 2006)

Tangerine said:


> I'm not sure, technically there is physical movement involved, but how much movement is considered enough to be a sport? It's probably debatable, and I don't know the answer.


You could play chess with minimal movement, by having someone else move your pieces as directed, or by playing on a computer with voice recognition. The game is not about how the players move their arms.

You could call it a mental sport, but it is not a sport as the word is typically used.

Pool is in more of a grey area, since it does require physical skill, but not physical exertion to the extent usually associated with sports.


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## BobbyByThePound (Apr 4, 2012)

I'm pretty sure it's not considered a sport. I think it's pretty fun, though.

Also, even though there is physical movement I don't think that using your hand to move a pawn from one square to another is athletic.


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## AussiePea (Mar 27, 2007)

Definition reads: "An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others"

I think there is a difference between physical exertion and physical movement so I would say no. However you could argue the skill involved and the competition involved could still place it in that bracket.


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## BobtheBest (Aug 27, 2011)

No, it's just a board game.



BobbyByThePound said:


> Also, even though there is physical movement I don't think that using your hand to move a pawn from one square to another is athletic.


Yeah, I agree. If moving a pawn from one square to another is athletic, then playing video games would be a sport.


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## luceo (Jan 29, 2011)

Wikipedia considers it a sport.

If you narrow down the definition of sports to be athletic then you would also have to say that golf, darts, bowling, snooker, lawn bowls and many more aren't sports, despite often being considered sport. Besides, if the Internation Olympic Committe considers it a sport then it's a sport.


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## anonymid (Oct 16, 2005)

carambola said:


> You could play chess with minimal movement, by having someone else move your pieces as directed, or by playing on a computer with voice recognition. The game is not about how the players move their arms.
> 
> You could call it a mental sport, analogically, but it is not a sport as the word is typically used.
> 
> Pool is in more of a grey area, since it does require physical skill, but not physical exertion to the extent usually associated with sports.


Yeah, the skill involved in chess is purely mental, so I have a hard time thinking of it as a sport by any common definition of the word. A sport is a game or activity that involves physical/athletic skill of some kind.


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## Brad (Dec 27, 2011)

No, it's a board game.


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## anonymid (Oct 16, 2005)

luceo said:


> Wikipedia considers it a sport.
> 
> If you narrow down the definition of sports to be athletic then you would also have to say that golf, darts, bowling, snooker, lawn bowls and many more aren't sports, despite often being considered sport.


But all of those things require physical or athletic skills to at least some degree. Chess doesn't.

In any case, it's not clear to me why it would matter to anyone that chess be considered a sport. It's not like "sport" is some title of honor that confers dignity or respect to the game or activity in question (though given the way some people get heated when debating whether or not [x] is a sport, you'd think it is). It's just a neutral, descriptive term. I'm far more impressed by someone who's good at chess than by someone who's good at bowling, but that has nothing to do with what I consider to be a sport and what I consider not to be a sport.


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## BobbyByThePound (Apr 4, 2012)

luceo said:


> Wikipedia considers it a sport.


You read that article wrong. It's under "Mind Sports." And this is what it says:

*"Requiring little or no physical exertion or agility mind sports are often not considered true sports. Some mind sports are recognised by sporting federations. The following list is intended to represent anything that is likely to be referred to as a mind sport, not to argue their validity as sports"

*


anonymid said:


> In any case, it's not clear to me why it would matter to anyone that chess be considered a sport. It's not like "sport" is some title of honor that confers dignity or respect to the game or activity in question. It's just a neutral, descriptive term. I'll never understand why fans of [x] will get so insecure and defensive if others don't consider [x] to be a sport--or, conversely, why people who aren't fans of [x] will get so indignant if others consider [x] to be a sport.


There's similar issues when people argue about whether rap is poetry or whether video games are art.


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## Resonance (Feb 11, 2010)

Ah this old question.

This is highly problematic:

Do we consider "sport" to refer to all competetive activities, all physical activities, or all competetive physical activities?

If an activity must be physical to classify as a sport, then how physical? I remember a discussion I once had with my football-obsessed friend, who glibly pointed out that I was rubbish at all sports. I retorted that I was actually decent at archery back when I used to do it, and he laughed and said "Archery isn't a sport!"

I found this curious so I asked a few other people and found most people agreed that, despite its presence in, say, the olympics, archery is widely not considered a 'true' sport. And yet it is pretty physical, properly drawing back a bow string and holding it taut during aiming, again and again, can be pretty tiring after awhile. People have been known get bone damage from the repetetive strain.

So if Archery is not physical enough, where do we draw the line? Is it not so much the exertion as how far one moves from one's original position? If so, is weightlifting not a sport? What about sports where people sit down...sailing, horseriding, cycling etc - are they sports or must one stand up to be an athlete?

The long and short of all this is that we are unable to cohesively decide what exactly 'sport' is, and it doesn't really matter. Chess is not a sport in the colloquial sense meaning strenuous athletic activities, but it is in the sense of being competetive and it is easier to say 'sport' than 'competetive activity', thus there is nothing wrong with referring to Chess as such when the situation warrants.


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## uffie (May 11, 2010)

No it's a game.


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## Ape in space (May 31, 2010)

Chess is essentially a mathematical puzzle competition. Classifying things like this as sports only makes the definition of 'sports' completely meaningless. Sports should only include things that depend for success on one's physical ability (not necessarily strength, but also precision, accuracy, etc.). There is also a spectrum involved, some sports being more borderline sports, depending on the degree to which these physical abilities are necessary for the sport.


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## hoddesdon (Jul 28, 2011)

Tangerine said:


> I'm not sure, technically there is physical movement involved, but how much movement is considered enough to be a sport? It's probably debatable, and I don't know the answer.


Everything involves physical movement.


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## Whatev (Feb 6, 2012)

Well they want to classify something like golf a sport, so why not chess?


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## Whatev (Feb 6, 2012)

scarpia said:


> Brain sport. It takes brain activity rather than physical activity. Anyone here ever play in a chess tournament?


I walked into one when I was in high school by mistake, those kids were intense!


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## UKPhobe (Oct 22, 2008)

Borophyll said:


> Well they want to classify something like golf a sport, so why not chess?


Exactly, if you say that chess isn't a sport then you have to also say that golf isn't since that hardly requires much in the way of physical exertion.

Exactly how do you define sport? Do you define it by its competitiveness or by the physical effort? If the later then why not class drinking contests or whatever as sport?


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## Luna Sea (Apr 4, 2012)

The Olympic folks also call Dressage (trotting around on a horse being judged on poise) a sport.

And golf is a lousy sport, but swinging a club still involves a lot more physical exertion than moving a chess piece (even if you have to move it the whole way across!)


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## Ali477 (May 7, 2012)

TristanS said:


> The Olympic folks also call Dressage (trotting around on a horse being judged on poise) a sport.
> 
> And golf is a lousy sport, but swinging a club still involves a lot more physical exertion than moving a chess piece (even if you have to move it the whole way across!)


What about darts? its considerd a sport and yet it has the same physical exertion as chess.


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## Luna Sea (Apr 4, 2012)

Personally, I'd put darts more in the category of a pub game like pool or snooker. 

I don't know why chess people would really want to call it a sport tbh. It's a completely different thing. The amount of brain power (and nothing else really) required to play chess at a high level is pretty incredible. Almost all sports require very little thinking.


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## UKPhobe (Oct 22, 2008)

TristanS said:


> The Olympic folks also call Dressage (trotting around on a horse being judged on poise) a sport.
> 
> And golf is a lousy sport, *but swinging a club still involves a lot more physical exertion* than moving a chess piece (even if you have to move it the whole way across!)


Not THAT much though, I mean if you're classing sport by term of physical exertion then you'd be hard pressed to put Golf under that category. 
Same as Archery (I used to shoot in Archery so can speak from a great deal of experience). Obviously some physical strength is required to pull the bow string back, the amount depends on the weight of the bow, but Archery is far from a physically demanding sport. In fact it's quite relaxing.


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## Luna Sea (Apr 4, 2012)

Not in sports.


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## red wrinkle (Dec 3, 2011)

Its a game, not a sport, but saying that its a great game


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## Ali477 (May 7, 2012)

scarpia said:


> Mental exercise is just as important as physical exercise. It's not a board game. It takes a lot of studying to learn to play well. In fact studies show that it takes seven years of playing and studying before a person reaches his peak in chess. It ain't Monopoly.


You say Monopoly as a joke but they actually have a world tournament for professional monopoly players lol


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## anonymid (Oct 16, 2005)

Resonance said:


> it is easier to say 'sport' than 'competetive activity', thus there is nothing wrong with referring to Chess as such when the situation warrants.


It's also easier to say "game" than "competitive activity."

In any case, I agree that archery, weightlifting, and the others you mentioned are all sports. As long as there's some physical skill that's being tested, I'm fine calling something a sport. If the skill is purely mental, then I think of it as a game.

And again, to be clear, I don't see "sports" as inherently superior to "games," in any way. I don't see anything pejorative at all in referring to chess as a board game.


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## Resonance (Feb 11, 2010)

anonymid said:


> It's also easier to say "game" than "competitive activity."


Fair point.


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## Tangerine (Feb 16, 2010)

hoddesdon said:


> Everything involves physical movement.


I know, I was thinking that later on, sport..all the things? Anyway, I should stop posting late at night. :no Ignore~!


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## anonymid (Oct 16, 2005)

scarpia said:


> Mental exercise is just as important as physical exercise. It's not a board game. It takes a lot of studying to learn to play well. In fact studies show that it takes seven years of playing and studying before a person reaches his peak in chess. It ain't Monopoly.


How does that make it not a board game, though? It's a game that's played on a board. Calling it a board game in no way diminishes the degree of skill or challenge involved.

I'll repeat it again and again and again: "sport" is not some title that confers a special degree of honor or dignity or respect on certain games over others. It's merely a neutral, descriptive label that distinguishes games of physical/athletic skill from games of mental skill. That's all.

Yes, there are doofus sports fans who say "[x] is not a sport!" in order to belittle [x]. But they're doofuses; ignore them. Not everyone who says "[x] is not a sport" means it in that way.


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## Flame Sixtyone (Aug 27, 2009)

Lol!

no


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## moxosis (Aug 26, 2009)

Yes I pulled a brain cell going forward to fast once. You can also get a blood clot in your legs if you sit too long.


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## C137 (May 16, 2017)




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## ScorchedEarth (Jul 12, 2014)

I'd call it a competitive game, but it's semantics anyway.


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## Karsten (Apr 3, 2007)

Not a sport, but probably more noteworthy (and relevant) than some crap like Luge.


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## Kilgore Trout (Aug 10, 2014)

Probably not because I hate sports but I don't hate chess.


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## Kilgore Trout (Aug 10, 2014)

scarpia said:


> So where should a thread about the World Chess Championship go? This is exiting stuff - a US player could be world champion. The first in over 40 years!


Just make it in the General section. Then it will be the Mods' problem to figure out where chess belongs. Problem solved


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## Nick Attwell (Jun 16, 2014)

Darts, Pool & snooker I have wondered whether they are sports

More like pub games I feel


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## blue2 (May 20, 2013)

A test of mental agility is probably as much a sport as physical ability.


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## Raies (Nov 3, 2016)

Is competitive eating a sport..?


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