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. The seriousness of the sport is revealed in an article in The Guardian November 9th 2005 which reveals that Rubingh is a radical performance artist whose oeuvre includes blocking off intersections in Berlin and Tokyo to create monster traffic jams. He was jailed for 10 days for his Japanese "art".

Curiously enough, 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 if Bilal or Rubingh knew about the movie.

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.

In the Most Recent Match

About 400 people gathered in Gloria, Cologne, to see two chessboxing fights. Zoran 'the Priest' Mijatovic played queens gambit. But 'Anti Terror' Frank Stoldt was very well prepared and won in the 7th round. In the 7th chess round Zoran was three moves away of being checkmated, so he resigned. Frank also controlled the boxing rounds.

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
• Interview with chessboxing pioneer
• Training to be a ChessBoxer
• Interview in The Guardian
• ESPN chessboxing article

Individual sports | Multi-sport competitions | Chess | Boxing | Combat sports

Шахбокс | Schachboxen | Skákbox | Schaakboksen | Schackboxning