Lifted from a Health Book, circa the (early) 1970's?

"Chess is a sport that requires little or no body contact."

sport  (spôrt, sprt)

"Chess is competetive, and not physically demanding, so it is a game."

The above quote is usually what is used to place chess in the "game" rather than
"sport" catagory.

My only thought on the above is that one of the things that cut Tal's performance
was the fact that he suffered from a disorder that made top level performance
difficult due to the physical demands of competitive chess.  As a matter of fact,
while strong players stay strong (high ratings) they do diminish with age, and 
part of the reason is the physical effort necessary for top flight playing.  This is
my opinion.

i agree

Not physically demanding?

Chess drains dark energy

The "I-can't-stop-drinking-and-smoking-and-taking-pills disorder. I know it well

I'd like to bring the argument of shooting events in Olympic events:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_at_the_Summer_Olympics

Whatever the Olynpic committee deemed as a physical activity in rifle shooting, I would like to use them as arguments for making chess into a valid sport for the Summer and/or Winter Olympics.

i eat pieces of sport like you for breakfast.

There is the chess olympiad but chess is not in the olympics.

Chess is sport because there is a move.

Chess is a sport because a few million people say it is.

Same goes for football, it's a sport because millions of people say so.
And "tag" isn't a sport because they do not have a million of people claiming it is.

WORLD CHESS TOURNAMENTS

duhhh

 Solid point, but wasnt Tal like a drinker and smoker? I hardly believe he was fit.

Which made it all the more physically demanding.

LOL!

i move my arms and fingers when i play chess. therefore, chess must be a type of dance.

Chess is recognized as a sport by the International Olympic Committee. It's actually how the infamous anti-doping rules came to apply to chess. A few of the national sport ministries told the national federations for all the particular sports that they would give them money if they instituted drug testing, so the chess federations signed up, even though doping is not a problem in chess--it's basically free money at a small inconvenience to some of the players.

That said, having played in chess tournaments and in tournaments of the more traditional sports, I think it's completely different--coming back from a chess tournament, my brain feels crushed; coming back from a sports tournament, my body feels crushed. I guess the thing they have in common is they both have the power, when I lose, to make my soul feel crushed.

I'm still not convinced either way