I notice the International Olympic Committee recognized chess as a sport in 1999. Tonight the first exhibition match between Viswanathan Anand and Alexandre Shirov is scheduled to begin at 11:30 pm EST, in the Sydney Olympic Atheletes Village. Granted, at the championship level it's admittedly a grueling exercise both mentally and physically. But is that just for the contestants, or for the spectators too? :-) I'll bet you'll all be riveted to your seats with bated breath.

I like chess. I'm just not sure about the idea of having it as a massively-televised spectator sport.

In my local paper today, chess enthusiast Larry Bevand talks of Ben Franklin writing an essay called "The Morals of Chess". He also cites H.G. Wells with these words to say about chess as a game:

/ / / / / "The passion for playing chess is one of the most unaccountable in the world. It slaps the theory of natural selection in the face. It is the most absorbing of occupations, the least satisfying of desires, an aimless excrescence upon life. It annihilates a man! ...
/ / / / / "You have, let us say, a promising politician, a rising artist, that you wish to destroy. Dagger or bomb are archaic, clumsy and unreliable -- but torture him, inoculate him with chess, and he is undone."

Wolf "wonders if Canada will do better in the Olympics with a Team Chess Canada next year" spirit