Should chess be an Olympic sport? A decade and a half or so ago I wrote at least one post ruminating over whether chess should be considered a sport at all, and concluded (I think) that it was at least very sport-like. (If one thinks that a sport must have an athletic component, chess isn't a sport; if it's not necessary, then it is.) Going further, if one thinks that Olympic sports ought to have some plausible connection with what the ancient Greeks and Romans did, then the idea that chess should be an Olympic sport is ludicrous - but then so is figure skating, rhythmic gymnastics, and curling.
Regardless, FIDE hitched its wagon to the IOC going on two decades ago, and while FIDE's pathetic desire for the latter's love has remained unrequited to the present day, we're still stuck with absurd IOC requirements like random drug testing - as if a challenger to the world championship might benefit from the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) in his efforts to topple Magnus Carlsen from his throne. And now, a new absurdity: because the Russians are under an Olympic ban (of sorts) because of a PED scandal, Ian Nepomniachtchi can't play with a Russian flag during his upcoming world championship match with Carlsen. (More here.) Yes, it's very much a first-world problem (do people still use that phrase, or is it cheugy?), but it's still asinine.