A sport has to make you work. It requires effort and commitment and should make you labor physically. However, not everyone agrees with that. Some people believe that activities like chess are sports. The Oxford Dictionary defines a sport as “An activity involving physical exertion and skill, one regulated by set rules or customs in which an individual or team competes against another or others.” Some would argue that activities like chess don’t fit these criteria. However, as of August 2024, chess is recognized as an official sport by over 100 countries. Chess has recognition as a sport from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but it still isn’t played in the Olympics. Chess, or any of these borderline sports shouldn’t be considered as sports. So what should be classified as a sport and what’s just a game?
Oak Park students shared some of their opinions.
“A sport requires rules, movement and some sort of scoring system,” freshman Adyant Borhade said. “I play water polo and I think that is a sport, but not karate, which I am a black belt in.”
Borhade then elaborated on why karate isn’t a sport.
“Karate isn’t a sport because it is a form of self-defense. I personally think a sport should be recreational,” Borhade said.
Other students offered a similar opinion on what a sport should be.
“A sport has to make you sweat,” cross-country athlete Ari Kalan said. “I run six days a week in the heat. A sport requires effort and commitment.”
A chess candidate master, Jerry Chang, had a similar sentiment to share.
“A sport means you put in a lot of hours and effort. I practice chess for an hour everyday and volleyball 4 times a week,” Chang said. “I think that sports have to have some sort of physical activity involved. I think chess is more of a mental puzzle.”
Chess players need to be locked into the game for hours on end, and they have to stay sharp for the whole duration.
This poses a good argument. Players have to be in good physical shape to last for that long. Chess is extremely competitive, like any sport, and it requires players to also be in peak mental shape. Players train their minds the same way other athletes do. Additionally, physical and mental health are codependent, and thus chess players need to have both.
Like any other sport, chess players practice sportsmanship, practice for hours, and train themselves. Chess also has a ranking system similar to other sports. According to hilite.org, the IOC officially classifies chess as a mind sport. A mind sport is a game of skill and intellectual ability, which violates the definition of a regular sport.
While we can see that chess has some of the same characteristics as other sports, it still isn’t one. The reasons against it are too compelling. Even though chess players sit playing games for hours, and they put in the work like any other athlete, chess players don’t have to run up and down a court for 48 minutes, or spend hours perfecting their craft on the track. Whether the IOC considers chess a sport or not, it isn’t competed in for a reason. Sports are meant to be exciting and loud, not quiet and pensive.
By these measures chess isn’t a sport. So what does classify as a sport? A sport has to have some sort of athletic component. It has to be exciting to watch, it has to have rules and most importantly, it should require time and dedication from the athletes. It’s time for “sports” such as chess to have their approval revoked from the IOC and become just “games” once again.
