Hidden Answers

The answers for all the questions that everybody asks but nobody knows

The Question
Is chess considered a sport? If is, why?

The Answer
For see if chess can be considered a sport we need to look at the definition of the word “sport” first, well the dictionary says that is an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature. As I recall, chess can be a competitive activity, such as in championships, and that is a necessary condition but not sufficient to be considered a sport.

Chess is clearly not an activity that requires physical exercises , a computer can easily play chess, and the only physical activity that you do is sit, and move your arm. But, is not necessary in that way, chess matches can take hours, even days sometimes, and, the person who is in better physical condition I has more chances to win the match.

Also move the wood or plastic knight, peon, queen, or any other chess pieces is not actually part of the game, sometimes you even move by a click of the mouse on your computer. What actually counts is the production of the move, is what happens after the move. You could say to a computer or other person move the piece for you, you just say where you what put it and it is okay.

I mean, what really counts is not how you made a move, it is how you could think about doing this, how this will influence your opponent's move, what was your move, and how you make your strategy to win the game. On football, for example, is important to make a strategy too, but it is not important the way that you made this strategy, the important is the way that you made your move to make a touchdown, what is important is how you do it, and not why you do it as in chess.

When chess is been playing just for fun, it is considered a game. That makes sense because chess requires all what is necessary to be a game, as its definition says: a competitive activity involving skill, chance, or endurance on the part of two or more persons who play according to a set of rules, usually for their own amusement or for that of spectators.

But when there is a competition on chess, like on the Olympic games it is considered a sport, actually just the International Olympic Committee considers chess a sport. Even them are now thinking twice about consider it a sport. The definition of chess says clearly that is a game: “a game played by two persons, each with 16 pieces, on a chessboard”.

“There is the odd country where there’s some lingering doubt whether chess is art or sport. Quite clearly it is a sport.” said Viswanathan Anand, the number one-ranked chess player in the world. Well, apparently it is not a sport. It is clear that a sport requires physical activity such as in soccer, football, and volley, for example. You need to have your body and mind connected and in good condition to perform those sports and you have to think on the preset, in what is happening right now on the game, not as in chess where you just need have your mind focused on the future, to predict what will be your opponent move.

by Eduardo Watzko 12-07-08