Chess as Sport

A professional chess player often spends up to seven hours of focused concentration on one game during a tournament, and then devotes several more hours towards preparation for the next day’s game. An amateur often plays three games on a Saturday, each game lasting as long as four hours. Such play can be physically exhausting, even though most of this time is spent sitting in a chair. Do the physical demands of chess competition make the game a sport?

Returning to Chess

I play chess every day, except on days that I do not play chess. During the month of August, I stopped playing chess. Even so, I made moves in my correspondence games, played perhaps two dozen games of online blitz, and solved dozens of tactics problems. I studied a couple of games in Chess Informant. This chess holiday is coming to an end. Next week, I am back in training mode. My attention to the ancient game does not waver. Some days, the game gets a few minutes. Others, chess occupies hours. My regime of tactics training, opening study, and endgame skill development resumes.

This blog will have several new entries each week. I may resume my Sunday morning training log, which tracks certain training activities during the previous week.

2009 Washington State Elementary Chess Championship

School in my community started last week. This morning I was in the first and second grade classroom of a school where I coach the elementary chess team. Our chess club / team meetings begin in October. September in the classrooms is recruiting time. Beginning late in September, I will develop a lesson or two every week. These lessons range from elementary skills and basic rules to tactical and strategic problems that vex experienced young players. Some positions in these "lessons of the week" may challenge strong club players. I post the lesson of the week as a service to the youth who call me coach and as a service to their parents.

In between lessons of the week that show what I am teaching to children and tabulations of my personal progress on the road to expert, other items of interest will appear on this blog. My competitive success in early summer pushed my USCF rating to 1982. It also put me in a four game match with the Spokane City Champion, John Julian. After winning the coin toss and choosing White in the even numbered games, I faltered and lost in three games. Games one and two are posted with comments on the critical moments. John reminded me last week, that I have failed to post my analysis of game three in that match. He said that I promised. It was delayed. Before completing it, I turned my attention away from chess. Now, my attention is turning back again.

I am ambitious to improve. Currently at #55 among active players in Washington State and rated 1970, my immediate goal is to become a USCF Expert. My hope is to play well enough through my next few tournaments to push my rating over 2000. My long term goal is to achieve a master rating: 2200+. That level of competitive performance will require years of intensive study and training. This blog tracks some of that training. It offers a place for others on the path to improvement to make suggestions and share experiences. Constructive comments are always welcome. Spam that makes it past the filter will be deleted.

More than Footware

The most wonderful thing about the sport is it's the only sport that every member of the family, young and old, can play competitively.
Jeff Saunders

He is not talking about chess. No, Jeff Saunders is the past president of the Spokane Horseshoe Pitching Association. He is quoted in this morning's Spokesman-Review touting the unique appeal of horseshoes. The article, "Keeping an Eye on the Prize," exposes the popularity of horseshoe pitching among a small but enthusiastic group here in River City.

Chess is not a sport. If it were, we would be forced to contest Saunders assertion. Like horseshoes, chess can be played competitively by young and old. In the recent Washington State Elementary Chess Championship, which I organized, competitors were as young as five. In the I Love Chess 2 side event in the same place at the same time, the oldest competitor turned eighty the week after the event. I'm pushing fifty, and I've played hard-fought games against both the five year old and the eighty.

Chess unites as equals young and old, male and female, and competitors from all cultures. Through chess, young people gain self-esteem. They improve men­tal skills of concentration, memory, and analysis. Chess develops sportsmanship, responsibility, and respect for oth­ers. The game is relatively simple to learn, but never ceases to challenge players of all skill levels.
James Stripes, as quoted in "Checkmate"

Now, the co-host/principal sponsor of the Washington State Elementary Chess Championship was the Spokane Regional Sports Commission. They told me that for their purposes, chess is a sport. It might not make your arm as tired as horseshoes, but it is a grueling activity that requires focus, stamina, and competitive spirit from all ages, male and female.

Chess is more inclusive than horseshoes, and it is certainly a family sport.

Poetry!

I found this video thanks to a link from SonofPearl on Chess.com.




Update to Chesstiger's question in the comments below:

The video was produced by Krzymowski Chess TV Production. In the list on their website, the video embedded here is Swedish Chess. That doesn't answer the name of the tournaments, but it tells you who knows.