Is chess a sport or a game

I really don't understand the need that some have to validate an activity by requiring it to be a sport.  It seems that there is a notion that sports are superior to games and in order for chess to be a worthwhile pursuit we have to include it in this "superior" category.  The fact is that there is no qualitative difference between the two categories -- each has it's own unique set of merits and neither is superior to the other.  Also in claiming chess as sport, you do a disservice to both the game of chess, which stands both as the game of kings and the king of games, and to the English language which suddenly has little use for the distinction between sport and game once this miscategorization is adopted.

Suggo:Im going to try one more time and if you still don't agree then we really should be friends because i do enjoy a good debate.

From Websters New Collegiate Dictionary 1974

Projectile n 1.a body projected by an external force and continuing in motion by it's own ineria esp: a missile fired from a weapon (as a firearm) 2: a sefl-propelling weapon (as a rocket)

now how does punching someone not make the fist a projectile?  "the body projected" is the fist  the "eternal force" is the human body, and it continues by it's own inertia until the human body makes it stop.  like i said if you still don't agree maybe we should talk politicis and not agree on anything there either.

Chess is a sport if only..

A soccer field was a square and a person was standing on the field to be a pawn, then, when the pawn takes another pawn, the player then sprints diagnolly onto the other soccer field and tackles him, take down the pawn, and that person being tackled goes home.

TADA, chess is a sport!

I’m really quite bewildered that anyone can seriously think the fist is a projectile, but here goes anyway.

You explain that the ‘human body’ (which incidentally includes the fist) is the external force which sets the fist in motion. What do you mean by human body? The arm? The brain? Obviously, the projectile would have to include the entire length of the arm as it is also launched forward with the fist (much like a launched arrow includes the arrow and the shaft). So you are really saying the arm is a projectile.

Secondly, once a projectile is launched, it is no longer controlled by the initial forces (as it says it continues by its own inertia). A punch’s velocity (both speed and direction) can be altered in mid flight, indicating that it is still influenced by the human body. You aim a gun and pull the trigger, that’s the last say you have in the matter.

By extension, what do you think isn’t a projectile. Obviously a knife (used for stabbing) would be a projectile. Clearly anyone who thinks a knife (WHILE stabbing) is a projectile weapon has got something backwards

 The only exception for the fist thing is Hard Man from Mega Man 3.

I would have thought Chess was a game but a very sophisticated one. Sports do seem to be more physical in nature it seems, although there are some exceptions like Pool or Darts. But even in those cases the emphsis is on physical skill, accuracy and so on. Games, card games, board games, and especially chess seem to be more intellectual in nature.

on a related idea, I had an discussion the other day with someone who said Poker was not gambling but rather a game of skill. Seems to me it definitely involes skill but is also definitely gambling? What do you think?

ONCE AGAIN SOCCER IS NOT A SPORT BECAUSE THERE IS NO (real use) OF HAND EYE CORDINATION IN SOCCER AND THAT IS ONE OF THE 10 RULES THAT MAKE A SPORT.

sorry for the all caps

 rules are for fools. Chess is a smell - it is the gap between my dreams and my toes. It can be anything. Definitions always change and not everybody shares the same definition.

chess_lobseter yes we have a fundemental difference of opinion here.  If someone stabbed me with a knife i would say that the knife had been projected into my body by the other person.  I have  actually been trainned to use a knife in fighting and that IS how ALL of my MANY instructors taught me.

 I applaud this (clapclapclap).  This should be a quote.

padman the goal keeper using his hands once in awhile is not a ligit use of hand eye cordination.

Sorry, but the only time a fist is a projectile is when it's attached to a human cannonball.

Yes, seems tony fundamentally misunderstands the meaning of projectile.

I wonder...

If slow chess is an art, could blitz be a sport?

Hahaha how could anyone possibly think soccer isn't a sport.  While I agree hand eye coordination is part of sports, foot-eye coordination requires just as much athleticism. 

You came up with your little list of rules and rather than carefully analyze it to determine its flaws you treated it as gospel.  You seem to think 'no hand eye coordination' shows soccer isn't a sport, when in reality soccer shows that your list has reached unprecedented levels of stupid. 

Hey now -- they're by no means unprecedented.

you guys are messed up..

soccer is a sport, get over yourself.

you must be an idiot if you think soccer aint a sport..

serbian there are two other reasons soccer is not a sport the only one I will mention because i don't want to upset you too much is rule number 10 which is that if its not cool it can't be a sport and there is no more lame uncool activity then soccer BA-DOOP.  and keep in mind that's the one that won't upset you to much lol.

as for the projectile issue please take some martial arts classes then come back and try to have this conversation again.

Soccer aint cool? you need to stop doing drugs dude.

Even if I agreed with you, (which I don't) what about throw-ins, and what about the goalkeeper.  Both involve hand eye co-ordination. (the hands and arms are also an important part of balancing yourself to co-ordinate your feet as are your feet and legs for co-ordinating your hands). Whilst what your saying is rubbish your claim that anything that a girl can be good at cannot be classed as a sport is entirely sexist as no matter what you think that you are good at there are probably countless women better than you.