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Recognizing the chess team
Published: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 - 11:00pm
Last night, I attended Uni’s fall athletic awards ceremony, which honored the cross country, soccer, swimming, and volleyball teams. A lot of honor and recognition was shown to these sports, congratulating the teams for their excellent seasons and performances. But how come chess isn’t recognized as much as these sports?
I have heard many reasons for why chess lacks recognition. One key reason is that some do not recognize chess as a real sport. Traditionally, a sport is defined as being both competitive and physical. Chess is competitive, but to many people, it may not sound physical.
However, more than 120 governments officially recognize chess as a sport, and the International Olympic Committee officially includes chess on its list of recognized sports.
I don't see why Uni doesn't give a little more recognition to our chess team. The Uni chess team has been around probably as long as the other sports, or even longer. The team members commit lots of their time and energy to play chess. Our league matches occur on Thursdays at Parkland College and often last until 9 or 10 p.m. That's late enough, but in past years, we sometimes didn't get home until midnight, because meets were held at more distant locations. It was only this year that we switched to Parkland.
We have produced impressive results and delivered our best performances. We've placed first in our league (ECIC) for the past four years. In state, we placed eighth out of 121 schools last year and placed fourth out of 126 schools in 2006. We have to compete with schools that are 10 times our enrollment. Our team ranks first in Class A.
Based on our accomplishments, I believe Uni should recognize the chess team more and include it in its athletic awards ceremony. Chess is one of the strongest activities we have at Uni, and Uni should increase its recognition for the team.
- Gordon Ruan's blog
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Comments
Chess team
I agree with you; the chess team is having some of its best performances right now. People shouldn't assume that the chess team was always doing this well, so Uni should recognize the team's accomplishments, especially since all the other teams are honored during an awards ceremony. Maybe during the spring (or later) awards ceremony?
Having joined the chess team
Having joined the chess team this year, I agree that chess is a very competitive activity and is very demanding. We put as much effort into chess as any athlete puts into his or her sport. I don't even think chess has to be recognized as a sport to recieve some sort of ceremony. Isn't being among the top teams in the state of Illinois enough to deserve recognition? If the chess team isn't recognized at the athletic awards ceremony, it could at least be recognized at the end of the year awards assembly or something like that.
i disagree on chess being
i disagree on chess being recognized at our athletic awards ceremonies. The definition of athletic is of or pertaining to physical activity and, from my experience, chess is far from being a physical sport. I think it is more appropriate to recognize chess at the end of year assembly where other mental sports (such as the math team) are recognized. Plus, even though I don't want to downplay the chess team's achievements (far from it, I think we have a great team), athletes have practice everyday while chess team participants only practice and have matches on Mondays, Thursdays, and occasionally weekends. One other reason for the lack of the chess team's recognition is that I don't really see many Uni folks taking much interest in chess. It's a complex game to analyze and comprehend, and is generally not as crowd-appealing as such sports as soccer or basketball.
Chess Practices vs. Athletic Practices
Though Chess only meets Mondays and Thursdays, they don't get to petition out of some class (not necessarily P.E.) like Athletes do, so they're actually spending extra time after school without any time compensation. Chess requires more time than some club/teams at school. Though I agree that chess should at least get recognition at the end of year assembly.
Petitioning out
I don't think people understand the point of petitioning out. Yes, it is to give athletes some time to do school work to compensate for the time that they spend doing the sport. But P.E. is not some random period that can just be dropped if you're in extracurricular involvement. The point is that athletes are replacing the physical activity they do in P.E. with the physical activity they do in the sport they participate in -- and that sport requires more of a time commitment causes the student to be more physically fit and more physically active.
Petitioning out
I'm not saying to petition out of P.E. class for chess or any other club for that matter. I'm just saying that chess is an extra commitment outside of school, so even though they only meet twice a week, it still requires a good deal of time.
It's not a sport
I'll admit that the chess team is good this year. However, one point you seem to miss is that chess is a BOARD GAME. As soon as I can get recognized for playing Candyland, the chess team can have a spot in the athletics ceremony.
Sport
Look at http://www.olympic.org/uk/organisation/if/fi_uk.asp?Id_federation=44 (as Gordon has)...there's some basis for chess being somewhat of a "sport"
Chess is extra-curricular, not athletic.
It's the athletic award awards ceremony, not the extra-curricular awards ceremony. Chess is not a sport. Chess is a game. It's true that Chess requires tons of skill, practice, and is very mentally intensive. But the point remains: it's not athletic.
End of the Year Awards Assembly
Though chess should be mentioned in the end of the year awards assembly, or at least get a little more recognition. Also, look at the links that Gordon has about recognized sports...
Dictionary.com's number one
Dictionary.com's number one definition of "sport" is "an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc"
So you're saying that
So you're saying that fishing is a sport and chess isn't? I don't think of chess as a sport, but seriously, it's more sport-like than just standing there with a fishing pole.
fishing is a sport
Obviosly whoever you are, you have never fished. Fishing can be very hard work. Trying to reel a fish in for twenty minutes can be very strenuos. Also, it takes great amounts of physical skill, whereas chess only takes intelluctual prowess. Great fishers know how to "play" a fish on the line. I have only fished a couple of times, but i know that it can be very athletic. Chess, although intellectully stimulation, is not at all athletic.
Chess injuries
normally in a sport, which requires physical strength or prowess, you have the risk of injury, something that uni has proved well with all the girls basketball injuries last year. with chess the worst injury you can get is a drastic injury to your confidence or your ego. For actual physical and not mental injuries the worst injury you can get in chess is a broken nail. there is even more evidence towards chess not being a sport.
Doesn't have to be a sport
Actually, a British Grandmaster suppossedly punched an American Grandmaster in the face in an attempt to intimidate him. Though this is just one occurance, it just shows how competitive nature of chess. But like I said before, chess doesn't have to be considered a sport to be at least mentioned somewhere. It's kind of ridiculous how successful the team is and how no one even acknowledges us.
A reply to Chess Injuries and why chess is a sport
These are the reasons why I believe chess to be a sport or should be recognized as a sport:
A sport does not need to require physical strength, prowess, or exercise. Some examples of sports that fit this description would include darts and rifle shooting. First off, I'm sure that in darts, there is a very little chance of hurting yourself and very little physical exercise involved. Secondly, how can rifle shooting be considered a sport under your descriptions... Shooting a rifle does not require any physical exercise at all. In fact, rifle shooting is all concentration and no physical exercise (other than pulling a trigger), just like chess. I believe that if stuff like rifle shooting and darts are considered as sports, chess should be recognized as one as well.
However, if Uni doesn't want to recognize chess as a sport, then Uni should at least recognize it at the end of the year assembly along with the math teams, science teams, and etc.
rifle shooting and darts
these are sports because they take physical skill. To hit a bulls-eye, you need great hand eye coordination. Firing a rifle is very athletic because, first of all, to get to a good target, one must walk sometimes very long distances. Also, the kick from a rifle can really be hard on the body. After shooting a twelve gauge 3 times, my shoulder hurt for a couple days and there was a big bruise.
i agree that its a sport,
i agree that its a sport, but petioning out means you are doing PYSICAL(yes, im a great speller) activity...chess is mental, and may be grueling but it is not phisical.
So the verdict is
So the verdict is that:
a) chess is not a sport
b) it won't be named as such
c) it won't be recognized at the athletic awards ceremonies
d) if the administration wants to, they can recognize it at the end-of-year assembly
(?)
Verdict?
Whether it's a sport or not may be debatable, as some organizations recognize it as a sport, though definitions may differ...but the main point is that chess should get a little more recognition as an official Uni team, like math team and science teams (ExploraVision, etc.)
I don't think anybody is denying the fact that...
I don't think anybody is denying the fact that:
a) The chess team is good this year.
b) Gordon Ruan:Chess::Alex Zhai:Math
c) Chess definitely deserves more recognition in some form or another.
Personally, I don't feel that Chess is a sport. And here is why:
Take the following to be necessary conditions of being a sport:
a) That it's a competitive activity.
b) That the performance of the activity have an intrinsically physical component.
Chess certainly meets condition a for being a sport, but does not meet condition b. Part b says that the performance of the activity is based on some intrinsic physical skill. In football for instance, you must physically move the ball across into the end-zone to score a touchdown. In basketball, you must physically put the ball through the hoop to score points. In cross country, you performance is based on your ability to physically move your body from one place to another in the fastest time. But in chess, picking up and moving the playing piece is only the physical expression of the mental activity. For instance, one could play chess online where clicking of the mouse could express the mental activity that takes place in chess. The point is that two people could play chess without any physical activity at all. They could speak and write down their moves on paper.
It's true that endurance and strength of will can give chess players an advantage over their opponent. But the performance itself is not dependent on physical skill. If you were to take competitiveness as the sole factor for allowing an activity to be a sport, Chess would certainly be a sport, but then you would have to include such things as debating or job interviewing. Physical attributes can give candidates in a job interview an advantage over other candidates.
endurance?
lease explain the "endurance" being linked ith chess. In my opinion, endurance = xc.
Endurance.
Karpov's frail physique most likely cost him the title to Kasparov when he lacked the endurance to finish him off in 1984.
I'm still not undestanding
I'm still not undestanding how muscles + endurance = great chess player ?
Who said muscles?
Who said muscles? I don't think chess is a sport because the performance in chess is not intrinsically impacted by physical activity. But endurance is a part of chess to some extent. If someone gets really tired after a long game of chess and can no longer think straight because of it, the other person could win.
Is chess a sport?
Here's the dictionary definition for "sport":
an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.
Is chess athletic? Sure, it takes some rippling muscles to lift those heavy, plastic pieces but...
Devotion & Skill
Sports take skill and practice. So does chess.
Simple games like checkers or candyland require very little, if any, practice.
On the other and, people need to practice basketball and soccer to be able to be good at it.
You don't know how much time and effort the chess team spends on trying to improve our game. If chess is so easy and random (like candyland), why does Uni place in the top every year?
Chess doesn't fit the "physical prowess", but it does require skill, and is VERY competitive. As far as I know, fishing with your dad isn't competitive...
"As far as I know, fishing
"As far as I know, fishing with your dad isn't competitive..."
But there are huge fishing tournaments for hundreds of thousands of dollars, which are extremely competitive.