What is chess? Is it sport?

Many people ask is chess sport? And many of them dont know answer. I think chess is not a sport, why? - just dont now. Yes it have many connection with sport, like

• physical skills, physical effort, and physical challenge 
• whether the activity is unique, accessible 
• whether it has established rules and organised competition 
• whether these rules allow for strategy and tactics as elements for success 
• whether it is relatively widely practiced and is widely recognised as a sport

 (According to Dr. Richard Parrish - author of 'Sports law and policy in the European Union')

 What is your opinion?

so it's a game that is difficult to master.  Just because it isnt a sport doesnt mean it is somehow a lesser game.  What if i thought that women were men in my book because they shouldnt need a y chromosome to be a man.  Afterall, they have so much else in common, and women certainly arent inferior just because they are different in this one detail (or at all!).  Chess is a board game.  It just happens to share many virtues with sports. 

and poker is NOT a sport, it is sitting around a table playing cards.  Downing pints er... i mean Darts, isnt a sport either.   I can play chess or poker sitting on my arse at this very computer.  I might be playing them badly, but I am still playing them.  

chess is considered a sport

Chess is not a sport. Poker is not a sport. Both are games of skill. Sports require physical exertion and lifting a 1 gram queen does not qualify, neither does mental effort.

It seems that some folks don't agree but i trying to classify ones self as an athelete by bending a definition makes said person seem even more like a couch potato.

Peace,

B 

As a Physical Education major in college, we regularly had the discussion of what was considered a sport. In one class, we spent a lot of time defining three separate categories: sport, activity, and game. Activities include almost anything. Games are activities with a winner and a loser (or, everyone wins or loses) – they have a goal that may or may not be reached, depending on performance. Sports go much further (see below).

By our definitions, chess was a game. That does not make it better or worse than a sport or an activity – it simply helps define it so you can talk about it. All board games (no matter how mentally challenging) were considered ‘games’ because of two main factors that sports have which board games do not:

First, a sport must be physically strenuous. Chess may cause you to sweat, challenge your mental durability, and test your endurance, but there is no way it can be considered ‘physically strenuous’.

Second, and this is something no one has posted yet – a sport must have an active defense. So, in basketball, I can block your shot. That is an active defense. In chess, I cannot physically block your move. (Well, I could hold your arms back, but that would look silly and be cheating.) I can do absolutely nothing physical to stop you from making the move you plan on making. I can taunt you, intimidate you, yell at you, etc., but I cannot actively play any type of defense. While chess defense is among the most skillful and challenging defenses to play in any game or sport, it is a ‘passive’ defense. I make my move and I have to wait for you to move. This is why most of the Olympic events are called ‘games’. Did you ever notice that they are called the ‘Olympic Games’? This is because most of them do not have an active defense. You cannot stop someone from setting a record in the javelin, the high jump, or the 100-meter hurdles. They are games. The Olympics do allow sports, though, but mostly it is ‘games’.

I love sports and I love chess. Calling chess a ‘game’ does not make it any less awesome. The words we use to classify it only reflect our own agendas. I suspect that those of us trying to call it a ‘sport’ are simply attempting to give it as much respect as possible, which is great. I think chess is as hard to play as any sport, and I want chess to get all the respect in the world. Nonetheless, chess is my favorite ‘game’.

By whom? I don't think there is anybody that can make it official. Anyways, as I posted earlier, it depends on how you define a sport. However, I really dislike people (like littleman) who think chess is a physical activity.

 all of it?  It is in fact irrelevant.  So he took excercise.  so what?  Boxers apparently use skipping to keep fit.  This does not mean boxing is skipping.  Perhaps chess should be considered a meal, afterall kasparov watched what he ate before a game.  What if someone has a spelling coach, or a mentor in school.  Is school a sport?  

"And arnt all sports just a game?" (seems the quote thing doesnt work twice in one post)  no, they arent, and besides it doesnt follow that all games must be sports.  for example, hungry hungry hippos.  I count athletics as sport (not only does that active defense thing sound way too contrived to me, but i believe the defense in chess is the same as in basketball or football or whatever.  In all these cases you can force your opponent's moves somewhat and direct play.  If in football you dont have the ball, you cant just 'have the ball' just like in chess you cant just 'have a free turn'.  In football i can 'block your shot' provided i havent been outplayed so i have key defenders missing.  In chess i can 'block your shot (at my king)' provided i havent been outplayed so i have key defenders missing. ) but actually i was going to say i dont count 'running as fast as i can' as a game. 

 "and didnt most if not all sports get that way and get called sports because of some political reason?"

I was actually going to add recognition as a third requirement.  But certainly not as a wild card to substitute for one of the other 2 requirements.   Afterall competitive running up and down stairs as fast as you can meets the physical requirements and the competitive requirement, but it isnt a sport.  I would simply call this a physical game.  

 Seems harsh! perhaps you mean you disklike people thinking chess is a physical game. 

The real question is, does it really matter? I don't concider chess a sport, that doesn't mean I don't love chess.

I was looking up the definition of the word sport to see if I could settle this, it had 27 meanings but here are the two most important. (source dictionary.com)

1. an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.  

3. diversion; recreation; pleasant pastime.

Chess doesn't fit in on #1 since it's not athletic (yes I know some gms did physical training but they also had watched what they ate and I'm not comfortable with defining chess as a diet)
Now if you look at #3 then I guess chess would be a sport but so would watching tv so I'm not sure I agree with that definition of the word sport. 

So it's still unsolved I guess.