Botvinnik was the first one to sell this crazy idea about this board game.PK wrote:When I played casual games against my grandfather, it had nothing to do with sport. He was fast, attacking, talktive 1600-ish player with no desire to improve, but wanted to keep his wits sharp and enjoyed the game immensely. When his neighbours visited him, he asked them to play checkers or rummy; with me, since the age of 10 or thereabouts, it has always been chess.
We played our last game a couple of hours before he has been found on a pavement, with a nitroglycerie pill in his hand, brain-dead. And it's a good thing to remember that his last games didn't show any signs of decline, apart form the complaints concerning eyesight. His attitude towards chess was that of a jogger, not of a runner, a kind of "mental fitness".
When, a couple of weeks ago, I lost an intense tournament game (black side of Bogolubov with d7-d6, e6-e5 and King's Indian-style attack - or was it a more sophisticated reminiscence of grandfather's trademark pawn storms?) and came home completely groggy, wondering whether people in the bus think I am drunk, there was no question that this game has been a sport. In fact, I feel that I'm unable to break 2000 barrier for the reasons associated with body and sport: lack of stamina, low melatonine/serotonine levels, long periods without proper training of any kind.
I my family it is quite common to play some bridge at family reunions. It's basically only little more than a pretext for chatting and - let's face it - drinking. But I know that bridge can be a sport, having played in a couple of tournaments and seeing a difference of skill between me and the real players.
I also play Go at a semi-decent level (6 kyu EGF, 4-6 kyu on KGS server), I feel it taxes my brain even harder than chess, but my game lacks that quality that would make me feel about it like about a sport. At some point I practiced it quite intensely, not without good tournament results, and some people still find me an interesting sparring partner. There are stronger players, insisting to play me without a handicap, for fun of seeing the final result of less than 20 points of territory for either player. Then they go on and play Go as a sport.
In short, I think that an activity requires 3 things to become a sport:
1) effort
2) skill
3) competitive attitude
My grandfather's chess was not a sport, because of the lack of effort. My bridge is not a sport, because of the lack of relevant skills. My Go is not a sport because of the lack of attitude.
Again, you don't need physical skills to play chess. You are blinder, you can be assisted by somebody else.
Still, it is your brain.
You can't play soccer assisted by somebody else.
It is just so difficult to understand?!
Continue, go ahead. All this debate is all funny.
Have a nice day.