Chess boxing

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A chess boxing match in Berlin, 2007.

Chess boxing is a hybrid sport which combines the sport of boxing with games of chess in alternating rounds. Chess boxing fights have been staged since the spring of 2003.

1 History
2 Structure and rules
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

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 Rubingh, a Dutch artist, was inspired by Bilal's book and brought the concept to life in the spring of 2001, fighting under the name, 'Iepe the Joker'.

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 was aware of the movie. Rubingh claims that he had not known about it.^{[citation needed]}

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. This movie is likely an inspiration for the Wu-Tang Clan song Da Mystery of Chessboxin', from their first album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993).

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.^[1] The 1st European Chess Boxing Championship took place in Berlin on 1 October 2005 when Tihomir Atanassov Dovramadjiev of Bulgaria defeated Andreas 'D'Schneider of Germany after the latter conceded defeat in the seventh round.

On April 21, 2006, about 400 people gathered in the Gloria Theatre, Cologne, to see two chessboxing matches. 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.^[2]

In April 2008, the World Chess Federation FIDE posted a video on its website in which its president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was seen playing a friendly chess boxing match in Elista.^[3]

[edit] 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 one minute pause, during which competitors change their gear. The form of chess played is speed chess in which each competitor has a total of twelve minutes for the whole game. Competitors may win by knockout, checkmate, a judge's decision or if their opponent's twelve minutes of chess time elapses. If a contestant does not make a move in the chessround, he will be issued a warning by the referee. At the second warning the contestant will be disqualified.