Chess, the fascinating strategy game whose roots go all the way back to the 7th century, has eluded a strict categorization since its very beginnings. People refer to it as a mind game, a board game and a sport, the dispute originating in chess’s lack of physical engagement. While the International Olympic Committee recognizes chess as a sport, it is not included in the Olympic Games. Countless people have asked me whether chess is a sport over the years, and just as many have expressed their disagreement whenever I responded yes. I even asked ChatGPT about it:

However, a new chess-based competition that involves an intense physical component has increased in popularity in the past decade: chessboxing! Yes, you read it right! This intriguing sport – it is a sport, no doubt it – was first recognized by FIDE in 2008. Chessboxing competitions allow you to attack and counterattack your opponent with both your fists and your kingside pawn majority… Just not at the same time.

Who would be more tempted to train for this daring chessboxing competition: a beginner boxer who’s already a skillful chess player, or a beginner chess player who’s already a decent boxer?! Let’s first cover the rules of the contest.

A match of chessboxing comprises eleven alternating rounds. A round starts with four minutes of chess, followed by two minutes of boxing. There are three ways to lose the match. One more painful than the other, and a few more to get disqualified.

Lose by checkmate

The two fighters start a chess game and continue it with every round until checkmate or timeout. When the four minutes are up, the board gets pulled out of the rink and the players glove up.

Of course, the better chess player has the upper hand. However, it is difficult to decide the match in its first round. As I like to respond jokingly to my non-chess players’ friends when they ask me:

“How long would it take you to beat me?” Well, depends on how much time you take to think 😉

“How many moves would it take you to beat me?” I don’t have a punch line for this one, but as many of you already know, the number of moves in a game is often a poor indicator of one player’s dominance over the other. But it can prove critical if you know you’re about to get punched in a few moments.

Jokes aside, interesting strategies can develop around the chess component of the match, which differs from those that players normally opt for. As a chess tutor, I have taught good boxers how to build solid, impenetrable chess positions, therefore ensuring a way to get to at least a couple of boxing rounds against more experienced chess players. Similarly, being skilled at avoiding complications and at exiting potential attacks on your king at all costs could be vital.

The player with the upper hand – either on the board or just in terms of experience – can also choose to move very fast, bringing the game to a more advanced phase before the four minutes are up.

Tricky, edgy chess openings are also more likely to occur in chessboxing. The stressful setting of the competition favors practical chances over accurate play. Even if things don’t quickly concretize in a checkmate, taking the initiative from the very beginning puts pressure on the other fighter, making them more likely to blunder. Or to punch harder in the ring…

Lose by KO

All geared up, you can put the match to an end through a knockout or a technical knockout. Being better on the chessboard can make you more conservative and defensive in the ring. Whereas the bitter feeling that your king is running out of squares might lend you the energy to render your opponent incapable of defending themselves.

The more balanced the match is, the more important the preservation of energy becomes. Playing chess is hard enough already, so imagine going into the next round with shortness of breath, a dizzy head, or a bloody nose!

Lose by timeout

Unsurprisingly, the game of chess is played in a blitz time-control. Both players start with five minutes each for the entire game. So having a huge lead in the material is not enough. You also need to keep an eye on the clock and leave yourself time to deliver a checkmate.

In addition, a few extra rules are set in place to ensure fair play. It is important to prevent stalling in both types of rounds, especially in the chess one. This discourages players from deliberately letting time pass during the chess round in a losing position, only to skip to the boxing one. The referees’ committee decides the allowed period of inactivity, with the harshest being a maximum of twenty seconds allocated for every move.

Chessboxing brings together two vastly different activities and invites people with different skill sets to showcase their fortitude and determination to win. It proposes two honest and unforgiving fights and challenges for competitors to get out of their comfort zone and expand their strategies in a format where losing a rook might hurt more than losing your balance. The increasing popularity of this sport could bring further exposure to chess and enrich our community. England, India, Finland, Russia, and South Africa are just a few of the countries that have already registered local chessboxing federations.

Terry Marsh, an English former professional boxer, participated in this hybrid sport, putting up a fight that was later called “an attack on all fronts”. On his match against Armenian Dymer Agasaryan, Marsh commented on his strategy: “I had to get into serious training, but different. It was more mind than endurance and high intensity in the ring. Dymer was regarded as a better chess player than myself, but obviously, I was going to be the better boxer as long as I could keep him at a distance”. The former professional also shared my curiosity about the sport in his interview in 2020: “I went to see it once and thought, I’ll give this a try. I shouldn’t have done it at the age I was, but there was a fascination of ‘Does a good chess player beat a good boxer?’, or vice versa, or is it better to be a little bit of one or the other?”.

It goes without saying that intense training is necessary to get into chessboxing. Endurance and commitment to improving your physical condition are just two of the prerequisites of joining this sport. However, the benefits are obvious. So what are you waiting for?! In my case, another requirement would be to get better at efficiently converting winning positions in time trouble – after all, you’ve all seen me stumble on a blitz on lichess.org. Wait, you haven’t?! Make sure you stay tuned on our Twitch channel.

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