Actually....yes. Most Esports are more sport-y for me than Chess. A competitive painting challenge...yes, if there are enough rules to make achievements comparable. I have a very open sports definition but Chess and the like fail because for me sport has to have something to do with moving body parts, either quickly, strongly, precisely, or sustainedly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_Off_(TV_series) ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_Wars There need to be a show like these for Regular paintings. (at Bob Ross like speeds.) Ps. I just found: The Big Painting Challenge over on BBC one. Might have to check this out.
My issue with esports is that for the most part the people involved seem to be incredibly egotistical. They've spent too much time online pwning noobs. Also there's this cringe worthy shite...
I couldn't even stand watching 5 minutes of it! I have a much more strict personal definition of what constitutes a sport. To be a sport in my eyes, it must have a major component of strength, endurance or power/speed (or a combination of these components.).... and require coordination.
Looks can be deceiving though. Marathon runners look like starving people sometimes, not like athletes.
What about a really unfit guy who sweats while playing video games and eating Cheetos? But some quick measurements of VO2max quickly dispels that. Those guys/gals are beasts! The guys in that video game tournament can't say the same!
I once watched a Biathlon pursuit race, but I was disappointed when I saw they were just shootin the normal targets like in any other race. I had expected something more...dramatic.
Or alternately The Running Man . Spoiler: Not that far off In the year 2017, the world economy has collapsed. The great freedoms of the United States are no longer, as the once great nation has sealed off its borders and become a militarized police state, censoring all film, art, literature, and communications. Even so, a small resistance force led by two revolutionaries manages to fight the oppression. With full control over the media, the government attempts to quell the nation's yearning for freedom by broadcasting a number of game shows on which convicted criminals fight for their lives. The most popular and sadistic of these programs is "The Running Man," hosted by Damon Killian. When a peaceful protest of starving citizens gathers in Bakersfield, California, a police officer named Ben Richards is ordered to fire on the crowd, which he refuses to do. Subdued by the other officers, the attack is carried out, and Richards is framed for the murder of almost a hundred unarmed civilians. Following a daring jail break months later, Richards is... Written by Curly Q. Link
Well to be fair it requires a lot of skill to play like those top guys do. For me it is in the "coordination-heavy" category like Curling, Archery and the like.