Chess as a sport???

Shooting is a sport.

So  something like "hold ... see ... think .... play"    can  be  a sport.

So why not chess?  

There are many sports that have little physical exertion - snooker and darts for example. Chess though is a board game.

Different brain exercise. I don't know that it's not real brain exercise when a soccer player manages to swivel and kick a ball through a few defenders to score. At the very least, he will have carefully done a multifactorial stochastic analysis of the situation in his half of the pitch to decide whether a shot or a pass is in order. And in the blink of an eye, whereas you or I would have required years of maths classes and a pen and paper to evaluate the probability of success.

Personally, I don't give a whole lot of credence to the stereotype of dumb brawn. You can't be totally retarded and good at most sports(with the exception of American Football, where about 50% of the players are employed to just get in the road of the real players).

What I have observed in myself is a lower level of chess skill after going out on a long hard ride. I'll typically sweat between 3 and 5 litres in a 2 or 3 hour ride, and I'll tend to play worse after riding than before.

I think what happens is that all that sweat takes electrolytes out of my body, so my nerves aren't working as efficiently as they could be. You might think that's rubbish, but remember that one of the basic treatments for nutcases is lithium. That is the metal which sits in the periodic table directly above sodium and potassium, which are the ions that get pumped in and out of nerve cells as they fire.

Well, first you have to define what a sport is before we can say if chess should be classified as such. Is a sport only something that involves physical activity, or can it be just something that has a competition between players or teams. Once we define that, I can give my opinion on whether or not chess should be a sport.

Ok um wow. I never expected for you guys to actually get so involved with this topic. I never thought it was that serious. After looking at some of the more recent topics, I realize that chess is not like tennis or football or basketball. In those sports, you actually ache when your done, you sweat, and you get tired. In chess though, and this is coming from a personal experience, I once played a tournament game that lasted around 2 hours and when it was finally over, I wiped me hand across my head and boom. RIght there, sweat covered, fatigued, tired. I was light headed and dizzy. Face was red and I was breathing hard and my head hurt.

 I thank all of you for your comments. Now, would anyone here like to have a game of chess with me sometime. This I feel was an ice breaker. I have enjoyed reading and commenting on many of your comments and to have you do so likewise. If I was in any way at all offensive to anyone of you, please tell me and I will say I am deeply sorry. Now, the matches with the World Championship back then, those were not your average tournaments. Those were HARDCORE tournaments. Those tournament games weren't just for a title. It was to show strength and it takes a great deal of determination, will, and strength to be able to do that.

Now, I have heard that you can lose calories from playing chess but I have never heard of losing a lot of weight by playing. Maybe over a long period of time yes. Foot ball on the other hand, you lose a lot of weight. I mean look at those guys. Please continue to comment on my posts, I enjoy the comments but lets try not to get upset with each other if we can ok :). Play strong my friends, play strong.

OK right there. Right there is what I'm trying to get at. You hit the nail on the head with that comment ASAP_Ronco. It is exactly my point. Chess is unique, e-sports is unique in its own way, football, basketball, bowling, tennis, table tennis, ultimate frisbee, swimming, all those things are unique in their own ways. Thank you for such an amazing comment :). Play strong my friends. Play strong!

I think the often debate of whether chess is a sport or just a game really just reveals our poor definition of the word "sport".

Using simply dictionary.com, a sport is, "...an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc."

Despite the physical exhaustion involved in tournament play, it is realistically not an athletic activity.  I think some of the reluctance people have to calling chess a sport is that it opens the door to such things as bridge, scrabble, or even a math competition as being considered a "sport".

However, dictionary.com com also offers another definition of "sport":  "...diversion; recreation; pleasant pastime."  With this definition, chess qualifies, but then again, so would knitting, or the cliche, underwater basket weaving. 

What I think is more important than classifying it as a sport or not is that schools and other organizations recognize its competitors at an equal level as other athletics.  Serious players must train, be dedicated, and study strategy.  A student can put a lot of effort into becoming a better basketball player, and equally, a student can put a lot of effort into better chess.

Use heavily-weighted pieces.

Nice comment Mr_Lund, very well said. That is also another very accurate comment that we should all take into consideration as well as myself. Your right that the professionals train to get stronger and be dedicated, your also right for the fact that students or other scholastic run groups  play for fun. So ultimately, I think that the result of this entire discussion is that chess is and will always be, what people want to believe it is. Sport, not sport, recreational, tournament play. Play strong everyone.

The heavily weighted pieces do provide some sort of activity to a game of chess. Especially if it is blitz or bullet. I use the triple weighted pieces because I enjoy the weight of them and the sturdiness.

One could get a nice workout if the pieces were made of solid steel on a set with a 12" King, played on a board with 5" squares. Personally, I think that would be awesome, having a set like that, in addition to the loud "KLANG" sound you'd hear ever time you set a piece down on the board.

Well, they actually do have those :) and they are awesome. I personally have never used one but I have seen videos and pictures and they are incredible. Something entirely different to what many chess players are used to lol.

Many people want chess defined as a 'sport' because in many countries sports receive government funding. 

A sport is defined as a physical activity.  Chess is not physical no matter how much you attempt to redefine the term.  Chess is a great GAME, but not a sport.

If you choose to redefine a term to suit your own purposes, fine... but then I want video games redefined as a sport... perhaps reading as well... how about lying down on the couch?

I understand how other countries fund sports and I understand that some people want it to be defined as a "SPORT". I know that chess is a game. I am not one of those people who are trying to change it. I am not trying to redefine the term sport to suit my own purposes, I only put this topic up because I was curious the see what people think about the issue. If it was a sport, ok cool, if it is not a sport then cool also. I don't really care. I just like friendly conversations about these sort of topics, nothing more. You do make a good point though and I respect your comment. Play strong my friends, play strong.

A weighted set like this could really be exhausting.

HECK yeah it could be. And probably is. Thanks for posting this. I wonder how heavy those pieces are?

In Germany they actually have a chess "Bundesliga" where a lot of top chess stars play in, and there are other chess leagues out there too, where players are paid. Games that go  professional are normally called sport, so I guess chess probably is a sport, because there are professional aspe\cts

It all depends on how you define a sport.  In my opinion a sport requires athletic ability.  Therefore chess is not a sport as it clearly does not require athleticism.  If checkers or backgammon aren't considered sports than we cannot consider chess one either.  I am not comparing the amount of ability it takes to play chess at the highest level to games like checkers as clearly chess is a vast game that takes years of hard work to achieve success.  I know alot of people on here would be all over me for making that comparison so I just wanted to make myself clear lol.  However chess, like checkers or backgammon, is still a board game and in my opinion does not qualify as a sport.  It does require a tremendous amount of mental endurance.  I don't see the need to debate this though.  Stating that chess is not a sport is not meant to be demeaning.  It is simply a means of classifying it.  I love chess just as much as the next person here, and I am perfectly content with calling it a game and not a sport.

mattyf9, thank you for the comment. I understand where you are going with this and I myself say that it is not a sport. I just like to hear opinion :). Second, speak your mind. I am not upset, heck I love your comment. If you like what you say then it means all the same and  I bet there are people saying exactly what your saying. Never let anyone talk down to you or try to make you feel insecure about your opinions :). Play strong my friend. Play strong.

Yeah no kidding. The King is taller than that little girl is! Plus, what I am wondering, is why the Queen is on the 3rd rank, and all the Pawns are in still on their original squares. It must be in one of those matches with a non-chess player. I can hear her now. "If the Knight can do it, then so can the Queen because she's...you know...the Queen."