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Is chess a sport

There has been research where two chess players were made to play in a laboratory, with sensors for their physical parameters like heartbeat, respiration, blood pressure... The result was that the classical chess game was physically comparable to a 9 round boxing match. So chess is physically demanding.
All the top grandmasters have a physical exercise program to stay fit to endure the hours long concentration. Fischer played tennis and practiced holding his breath under water to improve oxu-ygen supply to his brain. Geller played basketball.

On the other hand sports are not only physical, but also to a large extent mental. Football players are not only defined by their ability to kick the ball or run, but also by their insight. Boxing is not about punching hard, but also to outmanoeuvre and outwit the opponent. Heavy weight boxing champion Klitshko was an avid chess player. Tennis is not about hitting the ball hard, it is also about strategy to outplay the opponent.

So chess has a physical component and the physical sports have a mental component.
No it does not have physical component. Stress in not physical component. Tennis has tactical part but still it abot developing good neurromuscular ability to hit correctly. Like boxing. Straight cross does not take thinking but even decent one takes about year to develop. And that is not mental process. You just hit a lot. And to find a spot you spar a lot. again boxed does think like in chess during match. He can tell afterwards what happend but decission happen on istanta.

Chess does not resemel tennis, boxing, football at slightest. So classifying it as sport makes no sense. Unless you define sport purely on organized competitition.
Before saving yes or no.... Get the facts, not an opinion. Even if we agree or disagree, it does not take away the decision that it is or is not a sport.

Take the time to search the internet and see if there is a fact about chess being a sport.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_Olympiad

If you think it is a sport, explain why.
If you think it is not a sport explain why.

That way the posts become educational.

Thank you.
This just goes to show how stupid humanity is. In MANY countries people would be DECAPITADED for playing this GAME or ANY other of the thousands of games (old, very old, new, card games, board games, computer games, etc...), if wasn't for this LIE that say that "chess is a sport". This is a big LIE to allow people to play it and be respected. Just like how it was done about one hundred years ago with cigarettes, saying that "they are not drugs". That's facts for you. And very ugly ones. Humanity is stupid to this point. Let’s say you never ever played chess, only video games. One day you decide to try chess on your computer for the first time. Would anyone not heavily influenced by all of this “politics surrounding the game of chess” tell something like this: “Today I am not playing video games, I am practicing a sport!” Really???? Does that link provided on #34 makes it less stupid?
So, again, #34 is 100% wrong. The same as we don't have to explain why we think that “in our opinion” cigarettes are drugs or not, being aware that “they are not a drug in the first place because the media says so”, we can ignore all that political nonsense about chess being considered a sport, when every other game isn’t, and consider it just another enormous human stupidity.
Here is my opinion ...

A sport can be a job.
A job can be a sport.
A desk job can be work.
A chess match can be work too.
A job or a sport demands work.

What's good for one is good for the other.
If an office job is work, then chess is too.

A desk job does not have to be physical to be considered work.
Chess does not have to be consider physical to be considered a sport.

For some, Chess is a hobby,
For others, Chess is their job.
For tournaments players, Chess becomes a sporting event.

A desk job is like chess, chess is like a desk job.
No physical activity at work does not mean, it's not a job or a sport.
@Toscani oxford dictionary has 11 definitions of noun sport and you free to pick one you like. To me the best if obviously
" An activity involving physical exertion and skill, esp. (particularly in modern use) one regulated by set rules or customs in which an individual or team competes against another or others. Frequently in plural."
Cambridge one "a game, competition, or activity needing physical effort and skill that is played or done according to rules, for enjoyment and/or as a job"

and chess does not fit it. Whether chess has competition called Olympiad is irrelevant. If call sleeping on sofa as sleeping Olympiad would that make sleeping a sport? As is if IOC has accepted into list morons willing to give handout to IOC memeber without slightest chance of getting into olympics.
Once again: in which section of a newspaper one can find chess?

Wikipedia:

Competitive play

Organization of competitions
Contemporary chess is an organized sport with structured international and national leagues, tournaments, and congresses. Chess's international governing body is FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs). Most countries have a national chess organization as well (such as the US Chess Federation and English Chess Federation) which in turn is a member of FIDE. FIDE is a member of the International Olympic Committee,[90] but the game of chess has never been part of the Olympic Games; chess does have its own Olympiad, held every two years as a team event.

Former world champion Viswanathan Anand (left) playing against his predecessor Vladimir Kramnik
The current World Chess Champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway.[91] The reigning Women's World Champion is Hou Yifan from China.[92] The world's highest rated female player, Judit Polgár, has never participated in the Women's World Chess Championship, instead preferring to compete with the leading men and maintaining a ranking among the top male players.[93]

Other competitions for individuals include the World Junior Chess Championship, the European Individual Chess Championship, and the National Chess Championships. Invitation-only tournaments regularly attract the world's strongest players. Examples include Spain's Linares event, Monte Carlo's Melody Amber tournament, the Dortmund Sparkassen meeting, Sofia's M-tel Masters, and Wijk aan Zee's Tata Steel tournament.

Regular team chess events include the Chess Olympiad and the European Team Chess Championship. The World Chess Solving Championship and World Correspondence Chess Championships include both team and individual events.

Besides these prestigious competitions, there are thousands of other chess tournaments, matches, and festivals held around the world every year catering to players of all levels. Chess is promoted as a "mind sport" by the Mind Sports Organisation, alongside other mental-skill games such as contract bridge, Go, and Scrabble.
@tpr
With all due respect...lolol.
I suggest that 9 rounds with Mike Tyson will wreak a lot more havoc on you physically than a game of bloody chess.
Please give us a reference for this "research".
You state the two players were "made to play"....were they made to play by judicious applications of a cattle-prod?...cause that would account for the elevated physiological readings.
@Sarg0n none of what you mentioned still does not imply "An activity involving physical exertion and skill" hence I cannot think chess as sport. As majority of the population will not

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