Puggo - Jar Jar’s Yoda said:
As for table tennis - don’t get me started. It is most certainly a sport. The level of fitness required to play at top level is pretty much like soccer. If you don’t believe that, simply go online and watch some world class matches. A lot of people think that the way they play at home is indicative of what it is like at a competitive level, when the two bear little resemblance.
This is doubly true for badminton. Many serious players won’t even play singles because it is too exhausting. Here too, watch a world class match and see the level of fitness and exertion on display. Badminton is one of the most aerobically-demanding sports one could choose.
As for chess, I was an expert-level tournament player for many years, and never considered it a sport. However, my view changed a bit during the first Karpov-Kasparov match, when the match had to be cancelled over fears of Karpov’s health. The length of the match, and the games, and the stress, Karpov had lost over 20 pounds (I think he was only 135 BEFORE the match) and had clinical exhaustion. Physical fitness is actually a factor because of the nature of the prolonged concentration and stress endured during an extended match. Top players train physically as well as mentally. I’m still not sure I’d call it a sport, though.
I wasn’t really talking about classical chess(where players have all day to make moves), I was talking about speed or blitz chess which sometimes requires players to move in a blur.
We need to set you up in a chess game with the ot.com official chess champion, Darth Ender.
