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The Art of Chessboxing

“Men will fight, kings will fall, by the end of the night one will stand before all.”

Two massively muscular, shirtless, sweaty dudes sit in the center of a boxing ring playing a heated game of chess while thousands of screaming fans chant “Check mate, check mate, check mate!” at the top of their lungs.

This is the sort of thing that you will only see at a chessboxing match.

In 1993, The Wu Tang Clan came out with the song “Da Mystery of Chessboxin’,” named after the 1979 Kung Fu film “Shuang ma lian huan,” or “Mystery of Chessboxing,” where a young martial arts student uses lessons he learned from playing chess to defeat the evil ghost-faced killer.

It’s 2014 now, and the mystery of chessboxing has been solved. Or at the very least, chessboxing as a sport has been rapidly rising in popularity these past years.

The unique juxtaposition between the intensely physical game of boxing and the contemplative strategy of chess creates a wholly unique game. Competitors are forced to switch from a flurry of adrenaline to cool, calm and collected concentration.

The rules are quite simple. The game is played in 11 rounds; six four-minute rounds of chess and five three-minute rounds of boxing. A match starts with a round of chess, with the clock set at 12 minutes for both players. Once the round of chess ends, the players take a one minute break and start the round of boxing. After that, they take another minute break and start the next round of chess.

The first person to either checkmate or knockout their opponent is declared the victor. If there is
a stalemate, or if all the rounds are finished, then judges will determine the victor based on the players’ boxing score.

Chessboxing has its roots in graphic novels where, in 1992, “Froid Équateur,” by Enki Bilal, featured an exciting tournament where boxers played chess in-between rounds.

The year 2003 marked the first world champion chessboxing tournament. Netherlands native Lepe Rubingh was the first-ever champion and after the overwhelming success of the event, he founded the World Chess Boxing Organization.

Today, chessboxing is rapidly gaining popularity. Clubs are popping up all over the world. The next world championship is to be held in Berlin Nov. 21, and if you are interested in joining a chessboxing club, the nearest to us Bradley folk is the Chicago Chessboxing Club.

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