Chess boxing
[1][2] Two combatants play alternating rounds of blitz chess and boxing until one wins by checkmate or knockout.
In homage to the film of the same name, the band Wu-Tang Clan brought chessboxing into popular consciousness for the first time in 1993, when they released the song "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'".
In the comic book version, however, the opponents fight an entire boxing match before they face each other in a game of chess.
Finding this to be impractical, Rubingh developed the idea further until it turned into the competitive sport that chessboxing is today, with alternating rounds of chess and boxing and a detailed set of rules and regulations.
[28][29] In 2006, more than 800 spectators filled the Gloria Theatre in Cologne for the world championship qualification fight between Zoran Mijatovic and Frank Stoldt.
The 36-year-old Frank Stoldt, who was a former UN peacekeeper in Kosovo and Afghanistan, won when his opponent resigned in chess in the seventh round.
More than 800 tickets were sold for the event at the Tape Club in Berlin, making it the biggest chessboxing title fight to that date.
In addition to the WCBO's initially European and later world championships taking place, the scene at the London Chessboxing Club grew as well.
He has been able to make a name for himself with more than fifteen years of chess-playing experience, and in the boxing world as Marco Huck's and Yoan Pablo Hernández's sparring partner, and having fought over 200 amateur bouts.
He won the light heavyweight title against Indian fighter Shailesh Tripathi after a technical knockout in the eighth round (boxing).
There were more competitors in the second and third Indian Championships in the summer of 2013 and early 2014 than in any chessboxing events ever before, with more than 245 fighters of varying age and weight class, taking place in Salem and Jodhpur, respectively.
The second event, in June 2015, The Grandmaster Bash!, saw the British, European, and IBF light-welterweight world champion Terry Marsh fight and defeat Dymer Agasaryan.
[38] Actual numbers of local federations are officially registered in some countries, such as: China,[39] Costa Rica,[40] Czech Republic,[41] Finland,[42] France,[43] Germany,[44] United Kingdom,[45] India,[46] Iran,[47] Italy,[48][49] Madagascar,[50] Mexico, Netherlands, Philippines,[51] Russia,[52][53] South Africa,[54] Spain, Turkey,[55][56] Ukraine,[57] United States,[58][59][60][61][62] and others.
In 2016, then-FIDE president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, publicly announced to Top Sport his desire to include chessboxing in the Olympic games.
[63] On 11 December 2022, content creator and YouTuber Ludwig Ahgren held a chess boxing event, called the Mogul Chessboxing Championship, at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.
If the chess draw occurs in the final round, the fighter ahead on points is immediately declared the winner.
After three minutes of boxing, opponents have to face each other at the chessboard barely having taken a break, and have to then perform calmly and think tactically.
Below is a partial list of chess boxing tournaments held in recent years:[68] Between 2003 and 2013, the chessboxing world championships were organized by the WCBO.
[citation needed] The World Chess Boxing Organisation (WCBO) is the leading umbrella organization for international amateur chessboxing.
[78][79] The first-ever chessboxing event hosted in the UK under the brand was at Bethnal Green Working Men's club in Hackney by Tim Woolgar on 15 August 2008.
By Rook or Left Hook tracks the early years of chessboxing, primarily focusing on the tensions that formed between the sport's inventor, Iepe Rubingh, and London Chessboxing founder, Tim Woolgar, and the formation of the two rival governing bodies, the WCBO and the WCBA.
Although the documentary was filmed over an eight-year period, (November 2010 to January 2018), the story spans over 21 years—from Rubingh's early years as an artist, all the way up to his death in May 2020.
[citation needed] In parallel with the development of chessboxing as a sport, the discipline has found an increasing place in several works by leading scientists who study the potential application of the concept in various fields.
