Is Chess a Game or a Sport?

The definitive analysis

Photo by srinivas bandari on Unsplash

It’s been claimed that top chess players can burn up to six thousand calories per day when playing in tournaments. The science behind that claim is somewhat disputed, but there’s no question that the world’s elite grandmasters have responded to the mental and physical stress of preparing for and playing in tournaments by incorporating a range of exercise and diet regimens into their training.

And this fact has resurrected the age-old debate: is chess a game or a sport? Well, in this article I’m going to give you the definitive answer. Let’s dive in.

What is a sport?

I’m a philosophy nerd, so I know better than to start this essay by trying to define a “game.” In his Philosophical Investigations, Ludwig Wittgenstein famously demonstrated why no such definition is forthcoming.

Consider, for example, the activities that we call ‘games’. I mean board-games, card-games, ball-games, athletic games, and so on. What is common to them all? — Don’t say: ‘They must have something in common, or they would not be called “games”’ — but look and see whether there is anything common to all. — For if you look at them, you won’t see something that is common to all, but similarities, affinities, and a whole series of them at that.