A friend of mine has decided to move to Germany. The teachers at her new school have offered to take her out so she can get to know all of them. One of them suggested...

Chess Boxing

I must break you... then we will box.

When she first told me about this, I originally thought she had said "chest boxing". Although it sounded odd, this I could understand. Perhaps the competitors put their hands behind their backs and bumped chests until someone was too winded to continue. Perhaps this was some kind a naughty ladies only sport that involved... well pretty much what I already said but with women. But trying to wrap my head around "chess boxing" was a waste of time. She clarified that she meant "Chess" then "Boxing".

What?

How the heck does that combination work? And why not backgammon wrestling? Or Parcheesi parkour? Or American Ninja shuffleboard? Or the mathlete slam dunk contest? Or... you get the point.

Nope this is a combination of the sports of chess plus boxing... and it is a real thing.

I never really considered chess a "sport"... but the Olympic Committee does so for the purposes of this post, I will refer to it as a sport.

My Knight fell in my shorts.
Do I get it out... or play without it?

So what the heck is Chess Boxing?

According to wikipedia, Chess Boxing is a "hybrid fighting sport" during which competitors compete in "alternating rounds of chess and boxing".

It was originally created by lepe Rubingh who is neither a boxer or chess champion... he is a performance artist. The idea wasn't even his own. Rubingh was inspired by a 1992 French comic book called Froid Équateur by Enki Bila. The comic book centers around a fictional chess boxing championship that involves fighting a full boxing match and then playing a game of chess. Clearly that would be ridiculous so Rubingh decided the matches should involve alternating rounds of the two sports. The competitors would box for a while. The bell would ring. Then they would sit down for some chess. Then they would return to pummeling each other. Yes. That is far less ridiculous.

Please watch the 1:24 mark. One dude wins in the chess round and jumps up on the turnbuckles of the ropes! Oh and it's sponsored by Jaegermeister.

The sport began in earnest in 2003 in Berlin. Between 2003 and 2005, The World Chess Boxing Organization and the Chess Boxing Club Berlin were established. The first world championship match took place in Berlin on October 1st, 2005. The first championship ended when Andreas Dilschneider resigned in the 7th round ... OF CHESSS!

From 2008 to 2011, Chess Boxing continued to grow. In 2011, it became a professional and global sport. It is currently relatively popular in Germany, Great Britain, India, and Russia.

Do you want to know the rules of Chess Boxing? I know I did!

A Chess Boxing match includes 11 alternating rounds. Six of these are chess. The other five are boxing. The matches begin and end with chess (hence why it is called "Chess Boxing" and not "Boxing Chess"... which is good because the later just makes it sound like you are being a good boy and putting the chess pieces away). The participants perform both activities in the ring. Therefore, after each round of chess, the board must be moved and then reassembled after the boxing round is over.

I said we were playing by Asian rules and there is no Castling!!!!

How do you win?

I win by not playing...

But the competitors can win in one of six ways:

• Boxing knockout (although a chess knockout would be far cooler)
• Boxing technical knockout
• Chess checkmate
• Chess exceeding the time limit (how lame would that win be?)
• Disqualification (for either chess or boxing... apparently the referee must really know both sports)
• Opponent resigns (chess or boxing)

If you'd like to learn more about Chess Boxing please check out the following link.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_boxing

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