Sport (or sports) is all forms of usually competitive physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills while providing entertainment to participants, and in some cases, spectators. Hundreds of sports exist, from those requiring only two participants, through to those with hundreds of simultaneous participants, either in teams or competing as individuals.

Sport is generally recognised as activities which are based in physical athleticism or physical dexterity, with the largest major competitions such as the Olympic Games admitting only sports meeting this definition, and other organisations such as the Council of Europe using definitions precluding activities without a physical element from classification as sports. However, a number of competitive, but non-physical, activities claim recognition as mind sports. The International Olympic Committee (through ARISF) recognises both chess and bridge as bona fide sports, and SportAccord, the international sports federation association, recognises five non-physical sports, although limits the amount of mind games which can be admitted as sports.

If chess is a sport in Spain, considered like that, why not go?

If chess is a sport in Spain, considered like that, why not go?

That's the question. In all europe chess is considered a sport, why not go? If we consider it an sport we can promote it like that, and reach more people, not like just another board game.

I think go will slowly overtake chess as the paramount mental game. This isn't going to happen overnight but as go becomes more and more prevalent in the West it will earn its deserved recognition.

Xiang Qi and Sho Gi may be more popular to the masses, but that has always been true just as checkers and dominos are probably more popular than chess. Go is the game for intellectuals and the refined. Whether in the East or West your ask which game is more respected it is always the game of the intellectual. The noble arts of a gentleman included go not xiang qi. Benjamin Franklin wrote a treatise on the virtues of chess not checkers.

Is it a sport, an art, or just a board game? Probably it is all three. Board games are usually activities that you enjoy every once in awhile with friends and family for fun. For some people this is exactly what go is, an entertaining game where they understand the basic rules and strategies of the game. A sport is something we usually take more seriously, spending many hours harnessing our skills. For amateur and professional athletes these activities take a good chunk of our time up. We do these sports for exercise, fun, money, competition etc. While art is a creative expression in which we design and manipulate to create a final product. Go can be considered any one of these three categories and in the end it depends on the player playing what go means to them.

The noble arts of a gentleman included go not xiang qi.

...What difference does it make whether we are applying our bodies or minds to work in a chosen discipline? ...

Also, have never really understood peoples resistance to seeing mind sport as sport. What difference does it make whether we are applying our bodies or minds to work in a chosen discipline? The opportunities for dedication, excellence, failure, inspiration are all there either way.

Xiang Qi and Sho Gi may be more popular to the masses, but that has always been true just as checkers and dominos are probably more popular than chess. Go is the game for intellectuals and the refined. Whether in the East or West your ask which game is more respected it is always the game of the intellectual. The noble arts of a gentleman included go not xiang qi. Benjamin Franklin wrote a treatise on the virtues of chess not checkers.

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Related: Why do we play games?

The philosopher Mendelssohn once said that he gave up playing chess because it was too serious to be a game, but not serious enough to be an occupation.