All sports are games, but not all games are sports. The term "Olympic games" does not mean that all games are Olympic. It's simply referring to those games that are Olympic (cf Olympian). There's no reason why chess and poker need to infiltrate this type of competition. Full disclosure: My favorite game is chess.
There have been non-sport events at the Olympics before. In 1900 and 1904 they had motorsports events. Between 1912 and 1928 they had architecture, sculpture, painting, music and literature competitions with medals. Though personally, I think the modern Olympics has now become an event for physical skill games. Whether that's outright athletic skill (running, jumping, lifting, gymnastic) or a highly physical skill (archery, shooting and so on) I think that's fine. Personally I'd like to see an end to the horse events, I don't think they belong in either category. Chess and Poker are both great games and I've spent many hours playing both, but they already have their own high profile worldwide competitions, I don't think they need to be at the Olympics. The other problem with Poker, too, is that it's a betting game. I suppose you could play a tournament for chips, but encouraging kids to go to casinos is probably not the look the IOC would want.
I love chess and think it is a great game. That said, I would not be inclined to include it in the Olympics.
One of the first things I ever saw on the internet was someone posting on a message board (was it this site?) claiming that chess is just as violent as football.
I've seen ppl walk away from tables as absolutely defeated human beings. I played at an 1800-1900 level back in my 20's. I couldn't do that on ability alone, it required skill. I seem to have a better than avg memory so chunking and pattern recognition came to me pretty quickly(ability.) The meat muscle(Krieg voice) in my skull had to be trained and honed. I couldn't have played at the level I did w/out 20+hrs a week studying/playing. People sweat A LOT when they play chess. lol
If you break a person's body they can heal and come at you again. If you break their mind, you have hurt them on a deeper level. If I am honest w/ myself the truth is my natural ability had plateaued and the only way I could progress was to study it full-time instead of part-time, going from 20-25hrs to 40-80hrs a week. What made it easy to quit was the defeat I would see on these guys faces. I'm talking about guys who had studied chess for 20, 30, or 40 years who couldn't beat this guy in his 20's w/ long wavy(beautiful) hair and a scraggly beard who nobody had seen before. Mind you, Baltimore is the 2nd strongest chess city in the country. NYC being first. Then there were the guys who could beat me 9 out of 10 games, but if I won or even drew them they would never play me again. Chess is a sport that draws on mind, body, and emotion.
I have met geniuses, I am not one of them. I have met and played against ppl who are eidetic, I am not one of them. I come from a family of sociopaths who think they are geniuses. We are only slightly above average. 120ish, that is, if you even believe in IQ.
I love it too. I llke teaching things to new players. Like when I helped a niece and nephew of mine learn how to get used to the knight by having them go around all of the outer squares of a board w/ that piece. The eidetic I played taught me that. The 1st time I played him he had his back to the boards of me and another guy. He beat that guy in 14 and me in 27. It was an amazing experience. He taught me the knight exercise because he thought the knight was where I was weakest and had missed opportunities.
You play for work? That’s cool! For reference I wouldn’t say I’m shit… I rank 600-700, but I’m certainly not a pro though. Tell you what, sport or nay, when there’s a good game on my heart is pumping and my brain feels like it’s melting. It is the BEST game. Amazing.
I use it as part of therapy and rapport building. I usually scale it back because it is supposed therapeutic lol
I suppose utter obliteration won’t do much for a patients self-esteem… Yoi think you’re useless! THIS is useless! Check! Check! Check! Now get out!