Chessboxing, as the name suggests, is a biathlon sport in which two combatants play alternating rounds of Chess and Boxing.
The Origin
The concept of Chessboxing was first found in the 1979 martial arts film ‘The Mystery of Chess Boxing’ by Joseph Kuothe. Jack Long, the protagonist of the film, is a Kung-fu teacher and Chess master who incorporates some of the virtues of Chess like mental calm and forethought, into his martial arts training.
In 1992, Yugoslavia-born French author Enki Bilal coined the term Chessboxing to describe a hybrid sport in his comic book ‘Froid Equateur’. In the comic book version, the opponents fight an entire Boxing match before they face each other in a game of Chess.
Dutch performance artist Iepe Rubingh borrowed this idea from Enki Bilal and developed this competitive sport. With a detailed set of rules and regulations, Rubingh popularised the sport worldwide.
Know the Rules
A professional Chessboxing match consists of eleven alternating rounds of Chess and Boxing, starting and ending with chess. The Boxing rounds last for three minutes each, followed by a one-minute break. The Chess board is brought in and out of the Boxing ring during this break.
The Chess rounds are played under time control, with a total of nine minutes allotted to each player. No increment is added to either of the players after a move is made.
A match of Chessboxing can end in one of the three ways:
- Victory by knockout in boxing
- Victory by checkmate in chess
- Loss due to time penalty (one competitor has used up all the time on his chess clock)
Recognition of Chessboxing
The first modern Chessboxing competition took place in Amsterdam in 2003 between Iepe Rubingh and Jean Louis Veenstra. Rubingh won the fight in the eleventh round when his opponent exceeded the Chess time limit. Thus, he became the first-ever World Chess Boxing Champion.
The first European Chessboxing Championship took place in Berlin on 1st October 2005. Bulgaria’s Dovramadjiev was crowned the first European Chess Boxing Champion after he defeated Andreas Dilschneider.
2008 was a landmark year for Chessboxing as the sport first received credit from the International Chess Federation FIDE. The then President of FIDE, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, took part in a Chessboxing demo fight in Elista.
Chessboxing in India
Indian Kickboxing and Karate champion, Montu Das was impressed with this unique sport of Chessboxing and in 2011 he established the Chess Boxing Organisation India. India got affiliation from the World Chess Boxing Organisation followed soon after by Chessboxing organisations from Italy, Turkey and Iran.
Montu Das said, “During my formative years, I learnt that along with a high-impact combat sport, there should be a balancing sport. Chess is a calm and concentrating game and Boxing is a high-impact workout. A combination of these two is a complete solution for a human body.”
In India, Chessboxing has reached at least 15-20 states and around 3000-4000 Chess Boxers are associated with the sport.
