A mind sport is a game of skill based on intellectual ability.

Etymology

The first major use of the term was as a result of the Mind Sports Olympiad in 1997. The phrase had been used prior to this event such as

backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back at least 1,600 years. The earliest record of backgammo ...

being described as a mind sport by Tony Buzan in 1996; Tony Buzan was also a co-founder of the Mind Sports Olympiad. Bodies such as the World Memory Sports Council use the term retrospectively. It is a term that became fixed from games trying to obtain equal status to sports. For example, from 2002 British Minister for Sport, Richard Caborn said:

...I believe we should have the same obligation to mental agility as we do to physical agility. Mind sports have to form UK national bodies and get together with the government to devise an acceptable amendment to the 1937 Act that clearly differentiates mind sports from parlour board games.

Many of the games' official bodies which had come together for the Mind Sports Olympiad, formed larger organisations such as the Mind Sports Council and International Mind Sports Association (IMSA). With IMSA organising the World Mind Sports Games in Beijing 2008 for

contract bridge Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking game, trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two Team game, competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each othe ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

, go,

draughts Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; Commonwealth English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve forward movements of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. ...

and

xiangqi Xiangqi (; ), commonly known as Chinese chess or elephant chess, is a Strategy game, strategy board game for two players. It is the most popular board game in China. Xiangqi is in the same family of games as shogi, janggi, chess, Western ches ...

many other bodies have lobbied for inclusion such as the International Federation of Poker, which won provisional membership at the annual congress of

SportAccord SportAccord is a global sports event organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, that is governed by stakeholders representing the Olympic and non-Olympic International Federations and has currently taken on some of the activities of the dissolve ...

in Dubai in 2009. The term also includes mental calculation or memory disciplines as presented in International competitions such as the Mental Calculation World Cup (held bi-annually since 2004) and the World Memory Championships (held annually since 1991).

Games called mind sports

As well as board and card games, other disciplines that have been described as mind sports are speed reading, quizzing, competitive programming, and cybersecurity wargames. Other events that have been included where the physical element is comparable to the mental component such as when the official Mind Sports South Africa accepted speed-

texting Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile phones, tablet computers, smartwatches, desktops/laptops, or ...

as a mind sport. The World Mind Sports Federation additionally classifies

esports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

as mind sports.

References

External links

Mind Sports Olympiad games A-Z

Who Is the all-time greatest Mind Sports Champion?
Raymond Keene, 7 September 2008 {{World Mind Sports Games * Sports by type

Etymology

Games called mind sports

See also

References

External links