Is chess as a sport on the rise or decline?

Be interesting to hear your comments!

Sport?

I like to think of it in the same category as darts!

I can just about stretch to darts as a sport, but struggle with the concept of chess being a sport. :0)

Fair enough,how about pool/snooker?

Yep, like darts, they have a physical aspect to participation.

If you can do it sitting in a chair, blindfolded, it's probably not a sport.

Maybe that says more about you than chess. but hey.

Idk, I have the feeling it could be a lot more popular though

@viv...elaborate!

Chess as a sport on the rise, but chess as an art on decline IMO.

I agree with viv. I think the problem is that chess is not easy to pick up. You can know the rules yes, but you will get slaughtered your first games if you think knowing how the pieces move is the same as knowing how to play the game. This is surprisingly common amongst people first starting out. There's also a false sense of confidence for some reason amongst beginners. For example most beginners don't realize that if you're down a rook and a knight near the opening, you've already lost the game. They don't realize that only a highly skilled player or someone who's preparing a magnificent tatical strategy could come back from such a position. They also don't realize how aware their opponent is of all their mistakes. They think that their opponent is also just pushing pieces around like they are, and when their opponent happens to make a good move it's just coincidence and they happened to see the move. They don't realize that their opponent has been planning it out for a couple of moves now.

So what I'm saying is that chess requires further study then learning the rules, before one can enjoy the game for what it is. Which most people are too impatient to do. It's also hard for people who aren't good with logic. It's like computer programming, some people find it incredibly simple and obvious, while others could not understand it if their life depended on it.