CHESS BOXING

'Chess boxing' is a hybrid sport which combines the sports of chess and boxing.
The concept was envisioned in 1992 by cartoonist Enki Bilal, and a match of chess boxing was a major plot point of his graphic novel ''Froid-Équateur''. Iepe "The Joker" Rubingh, a Dutch artist, inspired by Bilal's book, brought the concept to life in the spring of 2003.

Contents

History

Structure and rules

Rule concerns

References

External links

History

Chess boxing was featured in the 1991 Finnish movie ''Uuno Turhapuro - herra Helsingin herra'', where Uuno plays blindfold chess against one person using a hands-free telephone headset while boxing another person. It is not known whether Bilal or Rubingh were aware of the movie. In addition, there is a 1979 movie by director Joseph Kuo called "Ninja Checkmate" whose USA dubbed version was known as "Mystery of Chess Boxing". It does not feature chessboxing as understood in this article. The "Mystery of Chess Boxing" is likely an inspiration for the Wu-Tang Clan song of the same name, from their first album "Enter the Wu-Tang". In America, Hardcore Chess, is a firm that is operated by Charles McCoy. Since January, 2005, they have been researching ways to incorporate Chess Boxing into the North American mainstream. This year, they formally structured their strategy, and have now organized various Chess Boxing events on the East Coast, to coincide with several Chess Boxing products including t-shirts, caps, etc.
Recently, about 400 people gathered in Gloria, Cologne, to see two chessboxing fights. Zoran 'the Priest' Mijatovic played the Queen's Gambit, but 'Anti Terror' Frank Stoldt was very well prepared. In the seventh chess round Mijatovic was three moves away from being checkmated, so he resigned. Stoldt also controlled the boxing rounds.^[1]

Structure and rules

A match between two opponents consists of up to eleven alternating rounds of boxing and chess sessions, starting with a four-minute chess round followed by two minutes of boxing and so on. Between rounds there is a 1 minute pause, during which competitors change their gear. The form of chess played is "blitz chess" in which competitors have a total of twelve minutes. Competitors may win by knockout, checkmate, a judge's decision or if their opponent's twelve minutes of chess time elapses.
The sport is governed by the World Chess Boxing Organisation (WCBO), whose motto is "Fighting is done in the ring and wars are waged on the board." The first world championship was held in Amsterdam in 2003 and was won by Iepe Rubingh himself. The 1st European Chess Boxing Championship took place in Berlin on 1 October 2005 when Tihomir Titschko of Bulgaria defeated Andreas Schneider of Germany after the latter conceded defeat in the seventh round.

Rule concerns

There are long-term concerns over the possibility that in the future, the game could be dominated by boxers with little or no chess skills. This is because under the current rules it is impossible for a chess player to lose or draw with only one move taken (unless that player resigns or both players agree to a draw). All a player has to do to win without any chess skill is to take only one chess move in the first chess round, thus that player only consumes four of her/his allocated 12 minutes. Then in the first round of boxing, knock out her/his opponent to win overall. Thus, it is possible for a chessboxer with virtually no chess skills, but phenomenal boxing skills, to dominate the game.

References

1. SportsCenter Special: Chess Boxing. Aired on ESPN 5/7/07

External links

★ The official WCBO site

★ The official rules

★ Chessboxing site

★ A report on the 2003 World Championship match

★ An article about the European Championship bout

★ Account of the City of Cologne chessboxing championship fight

★ Interview with chessboxing pioneer

★ Interview in The Guardian

★ ESPN chessboxing article

★ A chessboxing's photo story by french photo reporter Cyril Cavalié

★ Un article en français sur la box d'échecs