Is chess a sport?

This position holds that chess is a sport. It argues that competitive chess is trained for much as athletics is — years of coached study, daily preparation, opponent analysis — and that elite players even condition their bodies, since fitness shapes performance over a gruelling game.

This position holds that chess is not a sport. It argues that sport is defined by physical exertion and delivers bodily health benefits, while chess is decided by calculation and memory, involves no meaningful physical activity, and so falls outside what the word 'sport' properly describes.