Why is chess not at the olympics?

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AdnanAmjadS

I  think we should make a petition to make chess an Olympic sport

IcyAvaleigh
maybe because chess is slow and not as simple for an average person to understand as simple sports like football?
IcyAvaleigh
most people want to see action instead of 2 players sitting on a chair for hours
DerekDHarvey

Fide and the IOC have been negotiating for decades. When I was membership secretary of the BCF back in 1999 they had reached the stage where the IOC was asking the BCF to provide evidence that they had the equipment and knowhow to do random drugs tests at National and International events. They also required the BCF to break up into National federations. The ECF came about this way. Chess IS a sport.

Santoy

Chess has its very own Olympiad.

If it was accepted into the Olympics proper, it would enter the floodgates for the likes of Bridge which has also been campaigning for ages that it is more than just a table-top game.

By 2032, we would have bleeding Scrabble players lining up.

If there is no risk of you breaking a bone, it isn't a sport wink.png

patin4
IcyAvaleigh schreef:
most people want to see action instead of 2 players sitting on a chair for hours

yes, but it will be exciting when they analyse the game well, it will be the same exciting, except when they go for theoretical draws, but this also happens in other sports?

patin4

there even sailors at the olympics, chess is not sailing?

jetseyterrier11

I think it would be interesting if chess was in the Olympics.

Kadenstarr
Santoy_UK wrote:

Chess has its very own Olympiad.

If it was accepted into the Olympics proper, it would enter the floodgates for the likes of Bridge which has also been campaigning for ages that it is more than just a table-top game.

By 2032, we would have bleeding Scrabble players lining up.

If there is no risk of you breaking a bone, it isn't a sport

Well, there is in chess

ik for a fact I will rage if I make a stupid blunder 

Itsameea

Because there is no room, they already have other sport like events: golf, synchronized swimming, kayaking, under water basket weaving.....

lfPatriotGames

Because the Olympic Games do not have board games. They have competitions that are exciting and fun to watch. Nobody is going to watch two people sitting in a chair staring at a board. All Olympic games are tests of physical abilities. Chess is a test of mental ability. So chess has it's own competitions, apart from sports. 

Grimm_Stone

Well a website says "Chess has been recognized as a sport by the International Olympic Committee since 2000." I also agree that chess should be a sport. I mean, if shooting is a sport, why isn't chess? If shooting is considered "A physical activity", why shouldn't chess be considered that too?

lfPatriotGames
FearlessPuffin wrote:

Well a website says "Chess has been recognized as a sport by the International Olympic Committee since 2000." I also agree that chess should be a sport. I mean, if shooting is a sport, why isn't chess? If shooting is considered "A physical activity", why shouldn't chess be considered that too?

For the same reason that's been repeated a thousand times. Because shooting (and all other sports) rely on physical skill. Chess does not. Chess has no physical skill, at all. There is zero necessity for physical talent or ability. Whereas sports all require physical skill. 

Thats the thing that will never raise chess to the level of sport. That is until the definition of sport changes, and things like crossword puzzles and Scrabble become sports. 

DasBurner

I feel like this has been said already but Chess requires no physical effort to play, just mental

lfPatriotGames
icyboyyy wrote:

in shooting, you actually need some physical skill to aim. in chess, you just need to have good mental capabilities and have a working hand to move pieces

Even a working hand is not necessary. If someone has no hands, they are allowed to simply call out the moves, or have someone else move the pieces for them. Sports do not have that allowance. 

albacored

More broadly, what value would there be in chess being at the Olympics?

AmnesiaHazeIII
lfPatriotGames ha scritto:
FearlessPuffin wrote:

Well a website says "Chess has been recognized as a sport by the International Olympic Committee since 2000." I also agree that chess should be a sport. I mean, if shooting is a sport, why isn't chess? If shooting is considered "A physical activity", why shouldn't chess be considered that too?

For the same reason that's been repeated a thousand times. Because shooting (and all other sports) rely on physical skill. Chess does not. Chess has no physical skill, at all. There is zero necessity for physical talent or ability. Whereas sports all require physical skill. 

Thats the thing that will never raise chess to the level of sport. That is until the definition of sport changes, and things like crossword puzzles and Scrabble become sports. 

ICO is opening to the e-sports. speed chess games are not so different. is it all about money? maybe.

DasBurner

lord help us if E-Sports are an olympic sport

krazeechess
albacored wrote:

More broadly, what value would there be in chess being at the Olympics?

Exactly, everyone see this ^^^^

ricorat

I could be wrong but I read somewhere at chess willl  in the 2024 olympics