Chess has traditionally been labeled as a nerd’s game, for those too weak for the physical sports such as football, basketball or even tennis. However, for those brave enough for the academic world, this limits the selection of academic sports to shuffleboard and chess. Chess was invented in ancient India by the Gupta Empire to train the army officers in tactics and strategy. Now it’s a game for the mentally athletic, not the physically athletic. The bigger question is “Is chess a sport?” The answer is yes and here’s why.
A sport is defined as a “diversion, recreation, pleasant pastime” by Merriam-Webster. Chess is a diversion from reality, pleasant to play and played for recreation, thus qualifying chess as a sport.
Chess isn’t limited to the dungeons and Dragons nerds any longer. Many books at our very own library teach chess basics and advanced skills. Chess is complicated in the sense that it’s to simple. One can know the rules of chess but the real magic of it is playing well. Despite jocks always knocking on chess nerds, now nerds can “throw the book” (the dictionary) at these athletic naysayers and play in peace.
You too can bring the pain to your opponents... the intellectual pain, that is.
