Is chess a game or sport?

Answer its for poofters

It's a game, not a sport. But it can be played as a competitive game.

Game is defined in Dictionary.Com as:

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.

Sport is defined as:

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.

Athletic is defined as:

involving the use of physical skills or capabilities, as strength, agility, or stamina.

Since chess does not involve the use of physical skills or capabilities, it is not athletic. And to be a sport, an activity has to be athletic.

Thus chess is not a sport.

Those who maintain that chess is a sport point out that chess at the highest tournament levels requires physical endurance, since chess matches can last several hours, during which you have to be in top physical condition. The more physically conditioned you are, the better you will be able to maintain the intense concentration necessary to win such a long game. Furthermore, one often has to play matches lasting days or weeks.

However, this is a specious argument, since calling the ability to sit and concentrate for extended periods a "physical skill" is reaching. If this were a valid argument, then almost any activity would be athletic. For example, since waiters have to have stamina, waiting tables would be an athletic activity.
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Of course, they have things like Billiards, Poker, and cup stacking on ESPN nowadays, so the answer is debatable. I would agree that it is not a sport, but many people will say that it is.

First answer by Mattbeckwith. Last edit by Wnmz. Contributor trust: 0 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 3 [recommend question]