B-Sports Part 3: Chessboxing

Chessboxing is one of the most unique sports in the world. (Photo found here)

What do Magnus Carlsen and Mike Tyson have in common? They’re both legends of their respective sports, but other than that they’re complete opposites. Tyson destroyed his opponents in a boxing ring with his devastating physical power and precision, surrounded by thousands of raucous onlookers. Carlsen sat in silence for hours on end while meticulously plotting where to place his next chess piece to gain the slightest advantage over his adversary. The two disciplines couldn’t be more different, and yet…

Enter chess boxing. It combines the world’s signature combat sport with a game that has become the most overused metaphor for a battle of wits imaginable. But the name itself leaves a bit up for interpretation. Do the competitors box with chess pieces in between their fingers? Is the boxing ring a life-sized chess board? How many rounds are there? This and more will be answered shortly, as long as you keep your head in the game.

How much chess, how much boxing?

How I’d feel after the first boxing round in chessboxing. (Photo found here)

You sit down at the chess table. Your left cheek is swollen, your ribs are bruised and your brain still feels like it’s bouncing around inside your skull. You can barely see out of your left eye, and you wonder why you see sixteen pawns on your side when no one is calling you out on it. You go to make a move, but your hand stops because you can’t remember which way the little horse piece is allowed to move.

I’ve never played chess boxing, and you most likely haven’t either, but this is what I’d imagine a player would feel after six rounds. There’s 11 rounds total, and each round alternates between chess and boxing, starting with chess at the beginning. Each round is three minutes with a one-minute break in between. Plenty of time to recover from head trauma, right?

I’m not going to delve into the granular rules of either chess or boxing here. They’re both well-established sports, and their rules are largely unchanged in this crossover. However, it is important to note that the chess games are under time control, so each player has nine minutes allotted to make their moves. How anyone can make a reasoned decision in that short of time with a clear head is beyond me, much less after getting starched.

The match can end in the boxing, either by knockout or TKO, or in chess via checkmate. If neither happens by the end of the final round of chess, the player with more points in the boxing wins. If the chess match is a draw at the end, one final round of boxing will decide the winner.

Who can play?

Chessboxing champion Ruthie Wright focusing intently (Photo found here)

Neither Mike Tyson nor Magnus Carlsen would be allowed to fight in a Chess Boxing Global match. They require every player to have an Elo rating of at least 1,600 (considered among the top players in a state or country), and they require each participant to have participated in at least 50 amateur fighting bouts. So, you can’t be dominant at just one discipline — you must excel at both.

Additionally (and thankfully), both the men’s and women’s division have four weight classes. They are lightweight, middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. So, no David vs. Goliath situations here.

History of Chessboxing

You may be wondering what possessed someone to mash together these two seemingly disparate parts for our entertainment. You’d have Iepe Rubingh to thank for that. The Dutch performance artist created the format after reading the 1992 French comic Froid Équateur by Enki Bilal, which featured a chessboxing championship.

The first competition was held in Berlin in 2003, and later that year the sport’s first championship was held in Amsterdam. Rubingh himself challenged Jean Louis Veenstra, and Rubingh emerged victorious in the eleventh round after Veenstra ran out of time.

Official governing bodies of the sport sprouted up soon after. The World Chess Boxing Association and World Chess Boxing Organization emerged, with the former adopting a more professional, serious atmosphere and the latter making the event more of a party and spectacle. The sport grew in popularity globally in the early 2010s, spreading to the United States, India, China, Iran, Finland, Russia and several others.

A chessboxing match in India (Photo found here)

The 2013 World Championship of chessboxing took place in Moscow, Russia. It was organized by Chess Boxing Global, the organization now responsible for organizing professional chessboxing bouts. It garnered over 1,000 spectators and set a new standard for fighting prowess, which was then followed in the Indian Championship of that summer, which featured over 200 fighters. The sport today is popular in dozens of countries.

Why you should watch it

If you’re a fan of either sport, this crossover will introduce an exciting new element to one that complements the other. If watching chess bores you to tears, what better way to up the ante than watching the competitors try to take each other’s head off? And if you think boxing is too barbaric, watching the fighters use their wits against each might earn your respect.

Besides that, the unique spectacle the sport provides is absolutely worth a watch. I can’t think of another event that provides both a mental and physical challenge quite like this. All the athletes must be in peak physical shape while also performing a game of extreme focus. It’s truly a sight to behold.