Is chess a sport? Ending the debate

23 june SPORT CHESS  world wide CC TV Magnus Carlsen vs 

Is golf a sport? Is bowling?

What about darts? Snooker and billiards? Diving? Synchronized swimming? Teen beauty pageants? Cheerleading? Gymnastics?

I say "yes" to some of the above and "no" to others, on the basis of certain CRITERIA. It depends on the criteria that you're using under the definition of the word "sport". I'd rather that chess be considered a LEGITIMATE COMPETITION and leave the definition of sport to some other day; and I'd rather that anything with a major proportion of judgement-call involved in determining the victor, to be REMOVED from the category "sport." Diving, for instance -- not a sport. But it's a DISPLAY and it CAN be relatively competitive, but it is NOT always possible to provide for an ABSOLUTE competition with winner and loser since the victor is determined solely by judgment-call ("the scores are coming up: the US judge gives a 3.5, Japan 3.5, France 3.4, Brasil 3.6, and a ... yes another 9.9 from the Romanian judge for Eslvaolu the Romanian diver!"). 

According to some, anything really fat badly out of shape smokers can do well isn't a sport.  That includes bowling and golf.

On the other hand, Sports Illustrated used to run articles about Bobby Fischer.  

Oh woe is us, how will we ever get this important question resolved>=?

All the challenge is ...Olympic games, about money and advertising for the activity. 

if they do that, will follow GO, Checkers, etc ...morpion ?

in OlympiADS, spectators. if chess in OlympiCS, 10 x customers, spectators. imagine, after usain bolt walking to see Magnus Carlssen !

Define sport. Personally, I think the definition MUST include ...

• a focus on human physical bodily actions, as tested for some set of characteristics such as strength, dexterity, speed, reaction time, planning, response under stress, distance, accuracy, etc. (potentially alone, or in combination with other characteristics)
• competition, with a verifiable definite result which generally defines the victor(s) (thus likely implying, there will be loser(s) too), and rules of the competition agreed upon by all competitors

The problem with putting chess IN THERE, is whether or not the PHYSICAL ACTIVITY is central enough. Surely, we all agree, top chess competitions are strenuous. But is the PHYSICAL strenuousness the POINT of them? Is it a FOCUS? Not really. So, how much you think the term "sport" must mean "test of PHYSICAL and not mental attributes" is going to define how likely you consider chess to fit within that term.

I personally don't think American football ought to be considered a sport. There is not fair competition, it cannot have participants at all levels with fair and mutually agreeable combats, it does not fit other general definitions of sport. Sure, it's a spectacle, and it can be exciting (or deadly dull), but when fat people have to stop every thirty seconds to take a breather, and then have a con-fab with the clock stopped in order to be told AGAIN (by coach; coach's son; or other anointed Golden Boy) what it is that they're trying to do, are we really thinking in terms of athletic prowess?

So, chess, yes. NFL, no.

"Physicality" seems to be the one aspect, or characteristic that keeps chess from 'truly' being a sport(defined literally).  As much as I wish it was not so, I consider chess a sport, and I dearly love chess as a hobby of mine.  A beautiful game, full of unending possibilities, art, a real piece of mental magic.  However, (no matter how hard we reckon) chess cannot literally be a sport, unless brainpower can be considered physical action.

For the 20134th time, this argument is announced to be over by some random thread on a forum

I absolutely concur. Me likewise learn to play chess online. while I think chess is pretty much a game, it doesn't change anything and can't generally be faced off regarding, so it doesn't make a difference. The contention is senseless.

I have to agree with Clifton_Prince.

To think that someone like Jerry Rice compares to someone like Fabriano as an athlete is ludicrous.  Or to compare Lawrence Taylor to a great athlete like Nakamura is an insult to true sport everywhere.

You can't get around Clifton's argument that if the participants have to stop periodically in the game to consider strategy for what they do next then you can hardly consider what they are doing be be sport. 

"I personally don't think American football ought to be considered a sport. There is not fair competition, it cannot have participants at all levels with fair and mutually agreeable combats, it does not fit other general definitions of sport. Sure, it's a spectacle, "

So, chess, yes NFL no"

Thank you Clifton, it could explain difference btw spectacle, entertainment, sport, and chess. It could explain why FIDE is distinct from OLYMPIC and want to keep some specificity. 

tk you , everybody, OP 58 post who couldn't agree ? Mod ?

hello C-Moon, hope i dunno post too much , just great thread here, say hello to Jovis for me.

Many team game sports like hockey, football, basketball requier players to adjust their startegy in order to adapt the way opponent team is playing, usually a coach or someone else does the thinking and decides how they change their playing strategy or which players stay on the field at the same time.

Many team game sports like hockey, football, basketball requier players to adjust their startegy in order to adapt the way opponent team is playing, usually a coach or someone else does the thinking and decides how they change their playing strategy or which players stay on the field at the same time.

Yes, and as crazy Clifton pointed out, that automatically excludes the otherwise  super conditioned unbelievably gifted athlete from consideration as being involved in a sport activity.

Don ko back to topic , sport is more and more requiring money, a good ratio for future of chess, no way to avoid that debate : the moment chess will consider FIDE too poor and not enough attractive without aggiornamento, we proaly see changed in paradigme ; it ahppen in fotball , soccer, Platini UEFA wanting FIFA president sait stupidly : whining "in my time, i won la misère, ie cheap wages".

He got 1 million bucks in 2 years, producing ..nothing, and discretly was blocked 7 years.

rugby , everybody said, no money , just amateurs , hop! invaded by money. Even Pontypryd and Leister send good players in south of France, there is a ...market.

For chess , it is different : Russia blocked till 1992 the market , 99% of the power, then came big bang world wide, then computer ages for helping, then Kasparov phaenomen , then Carlsen era : all conditions are now here to attract money, it is a fact, not personal judgement. The moment they decide chess in olympics, it will be a sport by decree.

i'm a patzer, 64 years, just personal weird idea about our future, not good, not bad, probably the mean to have ppl getting they return on investment when playing at top level, or just avoid to die like Bogoljukov.

i watched sinquefield ty CC, it is a good direction ike 23 JUNE Carlssen, like, why not me being enough old to watch OlympIC discipline attracting LIFE, LIVE spectators.

A stadion soccer like Monaco, F, EU, is sad. Empty. Will they put ASIMO in ?

If one is hurt, i delete, Vive CC

Well, here's my two cents: 1. chess certainly WAS a sport when it totally consumed whole countries and became a center of culture (1960s Russia and America). 2. You are right that some say that sports require physicality while others say that it just requires competition. However, here is something we're missing: a sport also has to be popular. Now, is chess popular? I would say "sort of." Fewer people know how to play it these days, and among those few, the vast majority of them are only casual players with a rating of 500-900 elo. you don't hear the newspapers reporting that Caruana beat someone in chess, do you? However, in the 1960s, the newspapers reported that Bobby Fischer beat Spassky. So, is chess a sport? My personal answer is "sort of." it has many of the qualities of being a sport, but until the game is taken more seriously (like baseball or basketball where you always hear two people debating furiously about it no matter where you are) then it just won't be a sport.