Mind sports
Mind sportsIt seems almost like an oxymoron to combine the words mind and sport especially when the "sport" under consideration is chess. It is difficult to picture the game as a sport when the most physical activity it seems to require is moving the pieces across the board. Recently, though, the Olympic committee voted chess legal for competition in "The Games." This acknowledgment of chess as a sport by such a high council requires us to rethink our view of chess and athletics.
Although chess does not appear to require as much activity as most recognizable sports, it does require as much, if not more, preparation and time. A study done at Temple University found that chess drains energy at a rate that compares to football. Some of the best chess players in history regarded athletic training as an essential part of success in the game. Both Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov lifted weights. They used other physical conditioning techniques as well, not necessarily for their health, but because of the amount of stamina the game requires at high levels of competition. It is not uncommon for a professional player to lose 10 to 15 pounds during the course of a match. Matches can last as long as a month, with one game every day, eight hours each.
Over 120 countries officially consider chess a sport. The Unites States is not one of them. That may be because we seem to have a very narrow-minded view of what exactly a sport is. Ask any random...
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