Is chess a real sport?

Right guys,

This one may have already been discussed but I can't find the thread and would like to be involved in this discussion.

I often find myself in this situation where people talk about sports, I personally play few sports but lately I am focusing a lot in chess. When I mention chess as sport I get lots of weird faces. Also in detlcathlon and other sport shops don't have any chess gear... I have fun asking the workers and checking their faces when I look surprised and outraged when they tell me they don't have a chess section in their shop.

Personally I like to consider it a sport, mainly because I like the positive idea of calling myself an athlete but also because I get my heart rate up at given moments and for other Psicological reasons tok. I am however conflicted with the physical (main) static part of the game.

That is what motivated me to ask the chess comunity about this subject: Are we athletes or not?

sport
/spɔːt/
Definitionen ansehen in:
all

sport

biology
noun
noun: sport; plural noun: sports
1.
an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.
"team sports such as soccer and rugby"
h
Ähnlich:
(competitive) game(s)

physical recreation

physical activity

physical exercise

pastime

British
an occasion on which people compete in various athletic activities.
"I won the 200 metres in the school sports"
success or pleasure derived from an activity such as hunting or fishing.
"I have heard there is good sport to be had in Buttermere"
dated
entertainment; fun.
"it was considered great sport to catch him out"
archaic
a source of amusement or entertainment.
"I do not wish to show myself the sport of a man like Wildeve"
2.
informal
a person who behaves in a good or specified way in response to teasing, defeat, or a similarly trying situation.
"go on, be a sport!"

iit is a game. no, we are not athletes. be a proud nerd!

Open newspaper, where‘s chess? Sports!

Case closed.

@BadShogiplayer Soccer and basketball are games as well. Until business comes in the form of organization (federations, teams, etc.), athletes (who were players/gamers until they got trained and paid), TV rights of retransmission, advertisings, sponsors, national/international regulations...
But all sports are, basically, in their origin, games. They 'got professionalized'. Chess is not an exception.
Well, that's my opinion.

Nope.

Chess is not a sport.. It shares many characteristics of a sport, like Mammals share many characteristics of Reptiles.

This takes absolutely nothing from the game. - You just can't call yourself an athlete - unless you do something athletic. If NFL athletes trained like chess players - they would lose, a lot...

@Sarg0n The wisest answer I've heard so far.
Thumbs up !!!

If curling can be an Olympic sport then why would chess not be considered a sport?

Chess is a physical activity, but it cannot be considered as a sport. Because everything is a physical activity: doing exams is as intense as a chess tournament, and yet it's not a sport.

Military War is a sport. Chess is just a paper version of war. So not only chess is not a sport, it can't be made into a sport because such sports already exists ie wargames or actual war.