I had the same thought. I don't have a particularly strong opinion about whether chess players should be called athletes or not, but this was the first time tha

I had the same thought. I don't have a particularly strong opinion about whether chess players should be called athletes or not, but this was the first time that I had ever seen chess players referred to as athletes. The first result when you google "Are chess players athletes" says no [1], but I realize that this is more of an opinion piece. I would be curious to hear what more members of the competitive chess community think of the designation as athletes. Edit: Upon further googling, I have learned that the IOC recognizes chess as a sport. Reading up further on how the matches last for 7+ hours, and how important physical conditioning is, I think it's totally valid to refer to chess players as athletes. In different sports there is wide spectrum of physical and mental demands - and I think chess just falls on the incredibly-demanding-mentally-but-less-demanding-physically end of the spectrum. [1] https://herculeschess.com/are-chess-players-athletes/ https://herculeschess.com/are-chess-players-athletes/ [2] https://olympics.com/ioc/recognised-international-federations https://olympics.com/ioc/recognised-international-federation...