IS CHESS SPORTS ?

Why is chess considered a sport?

Chess is considered a mind game only aggressive and warlike in approach and tactics of a wargame played in halls for controlled tournaments and stuff, but it is not physical , where sports are supposed to be physical hence chess is just a board game, for the mind, there are plenty of other games that require thinking, but they're not considered sports. Why chess?

But Chess !

The organized competition, the fact that the game is entirely dependant upon skill, the fact that people have been known to lose 2-5 pounds after a particularly intense chess match, the fact that people who are younger and are in better shape have a physical advantage over the old and feeble because they can withstand the hours of sitting completely still in a chair for up to 5 hours while concentrating intensely, and the fact that it is very popular and is played throughout the world.

I consider it a sport myself but not everyone does. It is a contested claim at the moment.

Try playing blitz chess for some time and you be exhausted....

Of course its a sport. Probably considered an Individual Sport, like fencing or boxing or somesuch.

I do not believe it is an art-form though, as 'being art' is not its stated goal: it is a game/competition between two players. There are 'beautiful' positions/maneuvers/moves in chess that can be considered artful, and some chess sets are certainly art, but the actual game itself - the moves - is not what I would call a form of art. If chess were art all chess games would be 'artful' - with form and content - and that just is not so.

Chess requires extreme physical demands: a single game might last six
hours or more, and several such games might be played in one weekend. A study at Temple University reported that tournament chess causes physical changes similar to a comparable session of boxing or football. For these reasons, chess competitors undergo extensive physical conditioning.

Chess is a game, because the over-the-board time controls prevent it from being treated properly as a science. Postal chess allows much more serious analysis, however, and that way it is scientific, but unlike science, solving chess does not lead to any benefit for mankind.

Chess has many sport-like characteristics, because the duel-like nature, skill level, concentration, excellence and even physical conditioning are all required for olympic efforts. But because it does not rely on physical prowess, it is not considered a sport.

Finally, chess is a game because it is played as such by most, and even has a tricky psychological element players can use to their advantage, which are anathema to sport or science.

Sourced from Yahoo Answers