Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have they have, if any, to recognise chess as a sport in England.

The Government’s arm’s length body for grassroots sport, Sport England, has a process for recognising activities. The objective of the recognition process is to identify sports that Sport England may wish to work with and the national bodies that govern them. The process is run jointly with the other three Home Country Sports Councils and UK Sport.

Recognition of a sport is subject to application and the most recent application for chess was made by the English Chess Federation (ECF) in 2008. When considering if activities can be recognised as sports, the Sports Councils refer to the definition of sport contained in the Council of Europe’s European Sports Charter (revised 2021). This states that;

“Sport means all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels.”

The ECF’s application was turned down at this time as Chess did not meet the Council of Europe’s definition. Any future application for the recognition of Chess would have to meet this definition.