Is Chess considered a sport?

Athletic Recruits
1

<p>Hi,
I was having a debate with my friend and we were arguing about whether chess is a “sport” in the sense that colleges would pursue a chess player the same way they pursue a tennis player, or a football player. For example, if a student was rated the number one chess player in lets say New Jersey, would a college like princeton pursue this chess player the same way princeton would pursue the number one tennis player in the state?
Thanks</p>

2

<p>Its an activity. Wouldn’t consider it a sport. Like debate, or model UN or math team.</p>

3

<p>No, chess is not a sport. With the exception of UT-Dallas and UMaryland Baltimore County and perhaps a few others, colleges do not pursue chess players the way they pursue tennis players.</p>

4

<p>Here is a cite to the final chess four.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/at-college-chesss-final-four-once-dominant-umbc-is-now-the-underdog/2013/04/05/f0c5857e-9d46-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/at-college-chesss-final-four-once-dominant-umbc-is-now-the-underdog/2013/04/05/f0c5857e-9d46-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>Colleges generally recruit only for sports that meet “Varsity” criteria. The list of varsity sports are generally on the websites of each of the schools. Note that this applies for Division I and II schools only. DivIII varsity sports recruitment is variable.</p>

6

<p>Full contact chess resembles boxing, so that would come close. <a href=“Contact Chess - YouTube”>Contact Chess - YouTube;

<p>Traditional chess would be considered a game or activity. BTW…it was the one constant activity besides baseball, girlfriend, and studying my son did in college. He always had a chess game going on. ;-)</p>