im my opinion, yes. sports make u excercise and in chess u excercise ur brain. Also chess has math and other sports too but u may not see it. For example in football (american!!) you can calculate the balls trigetory (idk how to spell) and it also calculates how far u need to throw. Also most sports are competitive. Chess is very competitive. that is my reason, but if u disagree u can but ur claim down there :D