YORKTON - Is chess a sport?
Or, is it just a board game – albeit a widely played board game?
That is a question which when attempts to answer it fosters debate – but we will discuss that more later in this article.
Either way chess has profile and in Canada that profile will grow this April as the FIDE World Candidates Tournament takes place April 2-25, in Toronto.
The event is one of the most important in terms of chess as the tournament organized by FIDE -- chess's international governing body – is the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship.
The tournament brings together eight top men and eight top women players from around the world, explained Vlad Drkulec, with Chess Federation of Canada.
“Whoever wins first on the men’s and women’s side play the World Champion at some point,” Drkulec told Yorkton This Week in a recent interview.
The men’s winner will also earn roughly $70,000 CDN, with the woman’s winner receiving half that amount.
The Candidates Tournament will certainly put the eyes of the chess world on Canada.
“It’s very exciting,” said Drkulec. “All of the players are at the top of the chess world.”
With the top players competing it generates international interest.
“People are coming from around the world to watch, and lots of media,” said Drkulec, who added while chess may not have the domestic profile in Canada, in many countries it is covered extensively by media.
“Chess is so big in the rest of the world.”
As an example a chess tournament in Croatia with a population of less than four million boasted 25 grand-masters. There are around 10 in Canada.
Drkulec called the event “a once in a lifetime opportunity” to see the best on Canadian soil, adding it’s unlikely the tournament will be back in Canada for years.
So far Drkulec said the event is generating a buzz abut chess in TO.
“I’ve gotten a good response,” he said, citing interest for CBC and the Toronto Star among others. “. . . I think it’s a huge opportunity to market chess to the media.”
So, having a person as connected to chess as Drkulec to interview, the question had to be asked whether chess is a sport?
“Certainly players train like it’s a sport,” he said,
And in most countries – at least those with the most successful programs – “it’s part of the Olympiad program,” he added.
In Canada CFC vice president Olga Mushtaler spear-headed a petition to the federal government to have chess recognized as a sport.
It cited the following points:
* The Government of Canada does not recognize chess as a sport, despite the fact that chess is considered a sport on a global scale by a) the International Olympic Committee; b) 24 out of 28 member states of the European Union (such as France, Italy, Spain); and c) many other countries which provide public funding for chess;
* The Government of Canada excludes chess from sports funding programs, while in 2022, millions of dollars were spent on funding for hockey ($7M), curling ($5.2M), cricket ($1M), ringette ($0.7M), archery ($0.5 M), bowling ($0.3M), skateboarding ($0.25M) and surfing ($0.2M);
* Chess is played nationally by millions of Canadians, and globally by hundreds of millions of people, but received $0 support from the Government of Canada; and
* Chess has all the attributes of a sport, including a) a competitive struggle of high intensity for a sustained period of time; b) like any sport, chess requires top physical fitness, as the mental concentration and tension of tournament games are physically draining; c) in large tournaments, players are required to engage in intense struggle for up to 7 hours a day, sometimes 3-5 days in a row; d) there are rules, trained arbiters to oversee games, rating systems, and a behaviour code.
Drkulec said certainly recognition could bring new funding, important when you are sending players – many youth – around the world to compete.
And, if chess were ever to be an Olympic event the boost to participation would be huge.
And, what about chess in Canada?
Drkulec said at present the CFC has about 4,800 members, and some 10,000 youth who play in tournaments each year, but who play without membership in events versus other youth.
It is also estimated up to one million Canadians played chess online during the pandemic shutdown, he added.
