Chess as Sport Alan T. Sherman May 29, 1996 The American media have not yet found a home for chess news. They heralded the 1972 and 1992 victories of Bobby Fischer over Borris Spassky in feature news stories. They print weekly chess columns in the leisure sections of newspapers. They also run an occasional human-interest story about chess, often accompanied by a cute photo of young children playing the royal game. But they have not yet accepted chess as a competitive sport. Nevertheless, chess is a sport and deserves regular coverage in the sports pages. Chess, Culture, and Sports That various sports directories exclude chess is not evidence that chess is not a sport; instead, this omission merely reflects that large segments of our culture do not currently view chess as a sport. The National Sports Federation of the Netherlands, however, classifies chess as a sport, and chess plays a significant role in many athletic departments in Belarus and in other eastern republics. Many people consider chess the national sport of the former Soviet Union. The ancient Greeks greatly valued activities of the mind and included a variety of intellectual performances (including poetry reading) in their sporting events. Negotiations are now underway to make chess an Olympic exhibition sport. Chess and Physical Conditioning The noun sport comes from French and Latin as a contracted form of the verb disport, which means to make merry. Thus, the core meaning of sport is simply pastime, diversion, or recreation. Like many other sports, chess is also a game (a competitive activity governed by rules) and a competition (a rivalry involving the demonstration of skill or ability). Furthermore, and typically unlike ice-skating, chess is an adversarial sport: the outcome of each chess game is profoundly affected by the opposing interaction of the players. Chess requires extreme physical demands: a single game might last six hours or more, and several such games might be played in one weekend. A study at Temple University reported that tournament chess causes physical changes similar to a comparable session of boxing or football. For these reasons, chess competitors undergo extensive physical conditioning. Although chess knowledge is relatively more important than physical stamina, physical conditioning can affect match outcomes. For example, Kasparovs superior physical conditioning was an important factor in the Karpov-Kasparov world championship matches. Vishy Anand, contender for the 1995 World Championship, explained, give or take a very small difference [in chess preparation], the stamina . . . will make all the difference. . . . the physical aspect assumes really huge proportions. Years earlier, World Champion Bobby Fischer admonished, Ive got to stay in shape or its all over. In addition, dexterity is vital in fast-paced blitz chess. Chess as Spectator Sport Though chess is not a physical sport, it is nevertheless a sport. I refer to it as an intellectual sport, because chess depends crucially on abstract reasoning. Moreover, chess can be an exciting spectator sportas lively and entertaining as any basketball game. The excitement stems from its rich strategy, tactics, psychology, imagination, and human struggle. As demands of society shift from the physical to the mental, intellectual sportsincluding chess and debatebetter prepare us for the modern world. People react to chess as they do to any sport. Chess fans follow their favorite teams, discuss personalities, argue intricacies of the rules, recite statistics, and compare the ratings and rankings of players. With millions of dollars of sponsorship from the Intel Corporation, the Professional Chess Association found a winning formula for popularizing spectator chess: fast time controls, instantaneous computer projection of moves from an autosensory board, video close-ups of the players, and live colorful sports commentary. To avoid disturbing the players, spectators listen to the commentary over wireless receiver-headsets. The sports commentary, augmented by football-style telestration strategy diagrams, adds interest and makes the competition accessible even to people with no prior chess experience. There are over 80,000 members of the United States Chess Federation, including over 2,000 in Maryland. Most schools have a chess club or team, and many people play and enjoy chess casually. Thus, there is a substantial base of followers, including a dedicated core who would eagerly read detailed sports coverage. Already, thousands of people play and watch chess on the internet. If bowling can succeed as a major spectator event, so can chess. In November, when I telephoned the sports desk of the Baltimore Sun to report UMBCs 5-1 victory over MIT, I was told that the Sun does not report chess as sports news. I am grateful to the Sun for covering the eventalbeit as local news in the Baltimore County edition. However, as more and more people experience competitive chess, they realize it is more than an idle pastime. Chess is a thrilling, demanding intellectual sport that deserves regular coverage in the sports pages. Alan T. Sherman is Faculty Advisor of the UMBC Chess Club and Associate Professor of Computer Science. Anyone who would like to experience chess as a spectator sport is invited to watch the June 22 exhibition match between UMBCs top two players: International Grandmaster Ilya J. Smirin (ranked 28th in world) and 1995 Maryland Chess Champion William the exterminator Morrison. Rounds will take place 13pm and 34pm in Lecture Hall II at UMBC. Free and open to the public, the match will kick off the new Summer Chess Camp at UMBC. Spectators should bring walkman-style FM receiver-headsets to listen to sports commentary.