Chess in Vancouver 2010
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I think putting chess as an Olympic sport is ideal. Heck, if shooting bullets (target sport) are in it, why can't chess?
Aug 27, 2007
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#3
I don't really agree, I think the olympics should stay for physical sports, of course, it would give nice publicity for the game, but I think that for such a game like chess it wouldn't work that well anyways. To be relevant as an olympic sport anyways you would have to have all thebest chess players participating, and it would finally end up like football or most other sport where there is a strong outside organisation with regular games, matches, tournaments.
yup your right chess should be a olympic sport.... but if its gonna be a olympic sport than they should have a seaperate category for it like 'board games' checkers should also be included in this and other boardgames like backgammon etc. should be in this for sure. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
Aug 27, 2007
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#5
Yeah, i had this argument at work, they said it wasn't a sport because you sit down. So i said if formula 1 was a sport, they said it was because when they're wearing their gear ( helmet, etc... ) they sweat alot, so therefore thats a sport. Honestly, some people. You couldn't make that crap up, though they managed to.
Aug 27, 2007
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#6
But formula one, or target shooting ARE physical sports. Reflexes, precision, etc. are all physical qualities. However chess only involves mental qualities (besides moving the pieces, of course...).
I think chess should be an Olympic Sport. I understand that it's not a physical sport and can see the points of that argument. Great commentary Jona004, only in today's culture can you get that line of reasoning. Here's my take:
There are a lot of people out there who are unable to participate on physical sports due to a disability. Yes, I know that there is a Special Olymics, but for many disabled people who are fully capable intelligence-wise, the Special Olymics doesn't do them justice. Not to mention, we need more attention paid to brain development as opposed to muscle development. There are too many idiots running around and it would be nice to see an intellectual sport represented in the Olympics. Have the Olymic Chess Players do a quick sprint around the stadium if they need some physical action. Let's make mind games an acknowledged sport. It might get me to tune into the Olympics instead of considering it a waste of my time (well, I do watch some of the winter Olympics, mostly hockey since my family originate from Canada)
Aug 28, 2007
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#8
On our Eurosport channel we've been known to have ballroom dancing. So i presume being on a sports channel, its a sport. So if thats a sport, then disco dancing or line dancing must be sports. Where do you draw the line?
Aug 28, 2007
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#9
Hugh_T_Patterson wrote:
There are a lot of people out there who are unable to participate on physical sports due to a disability. Yes, I know that there is a Special Olymics, but for many disabled people who are fully capable intelligence-wise, the Special Olymics doesn't do them justice.
And plenty of people can't participate in the olympics because they lack talent, does that mean we should make sections for people who aren't so good? And the olympics is meant and as always been meant to be a competition among the best of the best in different physical sports, since when have the olympics become a democracy where everyone can play it's role in it? The reasoning that everyone should be able to go to the olympics is completly out of what the olympics is and should be. There is plenty of other competitions and international tournaments for chess or other disciplines. Just like in the football world cup there shouldn't be a ballet competition for those who couldn't play football, same thing for the Olympics.
Well, it appears I haven't been here for 7 years and a lot has happened since I made the original post with the the proposal that chess should be a winter olympic sport.
Did you know that the way curling was pitched as an olympic sport was that they called it, "chess on ice"?
What consitutes a sport>?
Someone replied that sweating makes it a sport. Perhaps. What about wearing a sweater?
What about heart rate?
I'd argue that a game of speed chess can raise the heart rate as high as a curler.
And I'm sure we all know a chessplayer that likes to wear a sweater even in the summer.
Moving chess pieces around does burn some calories too, I don't know the measurement but it is something.
So using the heart rate as a measurement of a sport, I'd like to hear the arguement for why not?
Seems a natural to have chess as a winter sport. It's the greatest game in history. The Olympics are also called games... fer christ sake ya can't even put chess in the same catagory as other board games by Mattel. I beg to differ that it doesn't require any muscle or movement. It's mind Kung Fu. The object of the exercise is exactly that of combat sports and predates all the modern events. Almost every Chinese man knows how to play their version of the game and those numbers ain't even included in the half billion fans of FIDE style. Make chess an Olympic sport and we'lll see a whole new generation of prodigy rise from the ashes of a languishing chess world to meet the challenge. It's more than worthy and about time and I think the Olympic committee understands the popularity and sheer numbers...oh ya, the money potential. It has at least as much drama and human interest as wheel chair sking. The mayor of Vancouver, Sam Sullivan accepted the torch at Turin in his own specially designed rig last year before billions, fer Pete sake .. Putting chess in the summer games isn't a well thought out idea. Put it in the Vancouver 2010 winter games and on those days it rains there will be half the nobility of Europe packed into BC Place Stadium or the new convention center. The handicapped games... having chess included is an obvious choice.