How do I defend the arguement that chess is a sport?

Why is there a need to settle the disagreement among classmates? Let them argue while you go play another game of chess.

The Anti Doping Agency has authority over chess. Their job is to monitor athletes for performance enhancing drugs. And with that you can drop the mike.

I won 25 in a row

If you have forgotten that your brain belongs to your body, chess will remind you

Chess is not a sport it is a game you cant just play chess you must play other sports at the same time to be successful at chess

A sport requires physical exertion, there's none in chess.

Therefore it's just a game, a prearranged game, he who studies more, wins.

Even within sports there's two categories, skilled sports such as football, cricket, tennis, Golf, Basketball etc, then there's endurance sports, no skill but a lot of physical exertion and stamina, not much else, marathon running, Cycling etc.

Unless you are a professional in a skilled sport, then you're not really proper, bone fide sportsman.

Sitting down at a table and pushing wood, is never going to be considered a sport, not by the dictionaries definition, not by any intelligent person's definition, accept it, and move on.

Ok, I recognize that I'm biased here, but I disagree. Endurance sports take quite a bit of skill in order to become good. It may not be inherently obvious, but a lot of effort goes into maintaining proper running form, breathing, posture, etc. The mental part of this also cannot be ruled out. The strategies that one uses during a race, the sheer willpower it takes, etc.

Modern technology has stripped away nearly all the physicality of chess. It's mostly a touchscreen game for devices, these days ... All you really need to do is tap or drag your index finger ...

a) A game can be a sport, and we can just play chess like we can just play tennis.

b) We need not be successful at a sport to engage in it. Being in overall good physical shape helps our brain bring in all its chess stamina and agility by means of a holistic flow, but if we are out of shape still our brain can be well trained, concentrating in a perpetual flow. This flow then will not last as long as it would in a fit body: Our physical organ brain will tire earlier from its physical exertion of playing chess if supported by a not very fit organism.

c) But if you want to say mental fitness and mental exhaustion are not physical, okay, where are you at? If awareness and responsiveness are not physical, alright, what are they? There is a difference between muscles and neurons. But holding concentration is a little like holding a weight, and juggling balls is a little like keeping several chess motives afloat, playing a position. They are all talents, they are all givens- bodily talents, bodily givens- that can be trained and shaped.

d) What is won by not calling pushing wood sport? You cannot see the brain activity in the moving hands, a mindless move and a worked out one can look the same. So, it's kind of a black box sport. But we know it's sport, 'cos we know the black box ain't empty. And that the vocabulary we use for describing the action in our brains is that of sport: demanding training, multi-faceted exercises, hard work.

e) Why is doing maths no sport? Well, it can be sport- like chess, it can be pursued as a job, as sport, as leisure. Visiting the etymology, French 'desport' meant engaging in divertissements, amusements. And let's remember Wittgenstein, concepts like 'games' or 'sports' would be fuzzy balls of wool held together by family resemblances, not by definitions.

stop this god damn stupid arguement

like wat ur gonna do if we disagree or agree

its not big deal buds

chess is no sport because there is no athletic movements at all

Some people like to think it's a sport because it makes them feel good, since chess is supposed to be a nerdy thing. The idea that chess is a sport is similar to the idea that making rice puddings is a sport. If you think making rice puddings or baking bread is a sport then you'll be comfortable with the idea that chess is also a sport.

I could make a pretty decent argument that Wittgenstein was a bit of a twerp. I know he was held in high esteem by logicians such as Bertrand Russell but Russell himself isn't held in high esteem as a philosopher. He attempted to be a philosopher but isn't normally regarded as one. Wittgenstein found fame far beyond his just deserts by getting in with the logical positivists. Logical positivism is as discredited as utilitarianism. I mean, as a "philosophy" rather than as a procedure.

One argument is the following.

Opinion is split over chess being a sport or not. I would think that most people would automatically assume it isn't a sport. The fact that opinion is so divided really does mean that, although some people may consider it a sport and attempt to provide reasons for it being considered a sport, it cannot generally be considered to BE a sport. That is, since the identity of chess as a sport is strongly contested, probably by very many people, we can only admit that there are people who think it's a sport and who think that it should be considered to be a sport by others too.

So chess isn't a sport YET and there's a real question as to whether it will ever be accepted as such. The opinions of sporting affiliations or associations and by sporting bodies doesn't count in the slightest. The opinion of a bank robber that all the bank's money should be hers doesn't count for much too; and I don't think Wittgenstein could make such a strong argument as that.

even if it makes them feel good, it is not a sport no matter how bad they want it to be a sport. A sport is played outside and involves movement and not just looking at a board of pieces and thinking about where to move them. You have to actually be moving around.

Completely agree. I've heard lots of claims that some chess players consume a lot of energy playing chess and even lose weight during the course of a game, although it's hard to fathom how that could happen. It's all fabricated argument, which destroys any concept of sport which anyone might hold, since that would mean that a diet is a sport or that if using vast amounts of energy while playing chess is indicative of some kind of mental disturbance or illness, then if a mentally ill person plays chess it's a sport: and if a mentally healthy person plays it, then it isn't.

Psychological stress and inactivity. This kind of stress negatively impacts the gut, and is the opposite to fitness.