Chess is a game. Sports require a physical aspect and chess is mental. Don't think about it too much people or you will find ways to make EVERYTHING a sport. eg.. ironing, putting on pants, eating chocolate bars, doing drugs... etc. You can always find ways to "beat" your "opponent" at anything.
finally someone who got it right :)
sport. it requires good physical conditioning at the top levels.
sport. it requires good physical conditioning at the top levels.
So does living past 100 -- is longevity a sport?
Chess isn't a game or a sport. Chess is a way of life.
You can call it a sport if you call Poker a sport.
Look at this way. You can look at any activity and always find a way to accept it as a sport, or as an activity. Physical sports, including bowling and fishing are sports. Anything that requires skill and involves competing is a sport.
Chess is one of very few activities that requires no luck. Cards are luck, all athletic games have luck, but chess it is a sport of the MIND. It is as close to being the perfect game, or sport, as you will find. No wonder it is the most respected game in any culture.
Look at this way. You can look at any activity and always find a way to accept it as a sport, or as an activity. Physical sports, including bowling and fishing are sports. Anything that requires skill and involves competing is a sport.
Chess is one of very few activities that requires no luck. Cards are luck, all athletic games have luck, but chess it is a sport of the MIND. It is as close to being the perfect game, or sport, as you will find. No wonder it is the most respected game in any culture.
By this definition, chess also is considered a sport because of the chance aspect that I mentioned as well. However, you can't group chess apart from sports os distinctly because in chess, the form of chance you're referring to does play a part. In hockey for example, a momentary lapse in concentration is called "getting lucky" for the side that benefits. In chess, the same thing applies, we're not inhuman, a "lucky mistake" based on miscalculation is not he same as a chance element. Chance elements are areas that have absolutely no boundaries in terms of control.
Then where are you going with this? Is everything luck then, no skill??? Define the two, because you can't. Luck and skill is the eye of the beholder. An egocentric failure in a particular sport, will say the opponent had no skill in the shot, etc, and rather it was a blunder by himself. This is a never ending debate, but what we do know is that the class a player shows makes the most sense to the majority of athletes and fans. Am I making any sense to you? I wrote this real fast.
It is a sport. Why do we judge it solely because the players are sitting at a table instead of a 100 yard football field. Is chess any different from a Head Coach selecting players to put on a field in different situations based on the the ability of the those players to do certain things. Aren't the players on a football field just chess pieces being used by the coach? Just because the players on a chess board are inanimate players being pushed by a chess player (Head Coach), doesn't that make it a sport too? Is it any different from Archery with just an arrow being shot, or a golfer hitting a little golf ball around what amounts to as a huge chess board aka "golf Course"?
From Merriam-Webster online:
game -- 1 a (1): activity engaged in for diversion or amusement : play
sport -- 1 a: to amuse oneself
Come on, according to both of those definitions, and particularly the second one, almost every male here has likely been an athlete since puberty.
I'm sure we can all find a sufficiently ambiguous definition that, in conjunction with our loose interpretation can make almost anything a sport. I think a little common sense is in order here....
Not picking on Paiterroy but his post is right there above mine where I can cut and paste (BTW is cut and paste a sport?)
"do we judge it solely because the players are sitting at a table " --- ummm... yeah that's one good reason
"Is chess any different from a Head Coach selecting players to put on a field --- errrrrr... yeaaaahhhhhhh just a little different
"Aren't the players on a football field just chess pieces --- hahaha.... ummmmm.... noooooooooo
I know this is going to draw the ire of you 1st string Varsity Team letterman chess jocks but if you think chess is a sport, you haven't played any sports.
Now, chess boxing, or track team vote chess.... those are sports.
I disagree, Grobe. The word sport is here in this forum given a very narrow usage when in fact that is not the actual case for the word. I merely wanted to show that a common dictionary gives two similar definitions for use of 'game' and 'sport' as a noun. Just because we have come to mainly refer to athletic activities as 'sports' does not mean that athletic activities are sports' sole domain.
No, I think that the context of the question that has been posed, particularly given the modern common usage of the word sport, that the intent of the question is quite clear with respect to what is meant by "Sport". If sport and game are synonymous in this context, as you've suggested, then the question needn't have even been asked -- it's clear that a distinction has been drawn by the original poster simply based on the way he worded the question.
When it comes right down to it, all we're really doing in these threads (and there have been a few), is arguing about the definition of the word sport by proxy.
I'd say that a good definition of a sport in this context is any activity that has a competitive nature, whether individual or team, is objectively scored or subjectively judged, and, most importantly, for which either cardiovascular or muscular conditioning will improve your ability to perform said activity.
Chess has been officially termed a sport. Some people are unable to separate their preconceptions about what chess is.
Football is a sport and a game with different 'plays'.
Well, my point is that there is nothing special about chess with respect to this discussion that isn't also true of poker, scrabble or even go-fish and that the real argument that we're having is what the definition of sport is, albeit by proxy.
Why is physical conditioning key? Because despite any dictionary definition of sport that can be, and has been, cited, that is really what's at the heart of the distinction that is implied by the wording of the question: "Sport or Just Game?".
The bottom line is this: Chess is a game. All sports can be considered games in some fashion. That doesn't, however, mean that all games are sports. Does that mean that chess is a sport? Depends on when, or whether, you draw the line between game and sport but absolutely nothing can be said that argues for the inclusion of chess among sports like Soccer and Football and at the same time for the exclusion of go-fish.
I'd say that a good definition of a sport in this context is any activity that has a competitive nature, whether individual or team, is objectively scored or subjectively judged, and, most importantly, for which either cardiovascular or muscular conditioning will improve your ability to perform said activity.
I've played several sports, so this isn't a biased question, but why is physical conditioning so important to your definition of sport? What does it say about the core of what sport means? To me, that's just a convention we've agreed upon. If chess had become a major league sport, then we'd be saying physical aspects don't define sport. Btw, chess requires immense physical stamina if you're playing long games.
I'll also add that convention is critical to establishing some common ground with respect to the semantics of this question and of language in general. Without it, we'd all just be running around pulling specious definitions of the word "sport" off the Internet and loosely interpreting them to mean what we want th...
...oh, right.
Well, my point is that there is nothing special about chess with respect to this discussion that isn't also true of poker, scrabble or even go-fish...
You're talking about where to draw lines, but you cannot see the line between chess and go-fish. Good gracious. Flyfishing is sport, but go-fish is 100% luck, and is simple childish amusement. Poker, and scrabble at the highest levels, on the other hand are rare games, like chess, that have elements of sport.
Incedientally, if the criteria are having an active offence and defense and mental fatigue qualifies as being sufficiently strenuous then perhaps arguing on the internet is a sport.