Chessboxing is a sport that combines two traditional sports, chess and boxing. The competitors fight in alternating rounds of chess and boxing. Dutch performance artist, Iepe Rubingh invented Chessboxing. Chessboxing quickly turned into a fully developed competitive sport and is now popular in Germany, India, Great Britain and Russia.
Rubingh's idea to create a sport fusing chess and boxing, originated from the comic book named Froid Equateur written by Enki Bilal- that portrays a Chessboxing world championship. Rubingh's developed the idea further until it turned into the competitive sport that Chessboxing is today with alternating rounds of chess and boxing and a detailed set of rules and regulations.
The first Chessboxing competition took place in Berlin in 2003. That same year ,the first world championship fight was held in Amsterdam in cooperation with the Dutch Boxing Association as well as the Dutch Chess Federation and under the auspices of the World Chess Boxing Organisation (WCBO) that was founded in Berlin shortly before. Dutch middle weight fighters Iepe Rubingh and Jean Louis Veenstra faced each other in the ring. Rubingh won the fight in 11th round going down in the history books as the first ever World Chessboxing Champion. The same goes for the Chess Boxing Club Berlin, created in the following year(2004), that is the first of its kind mailing Berlin the birthplace of Chessboxing.
Chessboxing first received credit from the international Chess Federation FIDE, in April 2008, it's president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, took part in Chessboxing demo fight in Elista. At the same time the Chessboxing community began to grow globally at even faster rate. In 2011, the first international club matchup took place with Berlin and London in the ring. London came out the winner with 2:1 won bouts.
The Chessboxing organisation India was founded in 2011 by kickboxing official and former Indian kickboxing and karate champion Montu Das. With this, the growth of Chessboxing in Asia gained momentum with the first Chessboxing Organisation in Western Asia.
At the same time , the process of turning Chessboxing professional reached a milestone. The 2013 World Championship in Moscow was the first Chessboxing event organised and marketed by Chess Boxing Global.
A Chessboxing fight consists of 11 rounds, 6 rounds of chess and 5 rounds of boxing. Chess and boxing rounds alternate, begining and ending with a round of chess. Each round lasts 3mins , regardless of whether it involves chess or boxing. The total amount of chess playing time is 18mins, making it 9mins each player. After each chess round ,the exact setup is digitally recorded and repositioned before the following chess round. The breaks in between the Chess and boxing rounds usually last 60 seconds. The duration of the rounds and overall fight time in amateur Chessboxing fights can change to somedegree ,as in for example youth tournaments and exhibition fights.
A chessboxer must have strong skills in both Chess and boxing in order to be permitted to compete in a professional Chessboxing fight. The current minimum requirements to fight in a Chess Boxing Global event include an Elite rating of 1600 and a record of at least 50 amateur bouts fought in boxing or another similar martial arts. Fighters have to mainly train in speed chess. However Chessboxing is not only the ability to master two sports but above all, being able to withstand the constant switch from a full contact sport to a thinking sport, round after round. This switch becomes extremely hard for the athlete as the fight goes on and he becomes tired.
Rubingh's idea to create a sport fusing chess and boxing, originated from the comic book named Froid Equateur written by Enki Bilal- that portrays a Chessboxing world championship. Rubingh's developed the idea further until it turned into the competitive sport that Chessboxing is today with alternating rounds of chess and boxing and a detailed set of rules and regulations.
The first Chessboxing competition took place in Berlin in 2003. That same year ,the first world championship fight was held in Amsterdam in cooperation with the Dutch Boxing Association as well as the Dutch Chess Federation and under the auspices of the World Chess Boxing Organisation (WCBO) that was founded in Berlin shortly before. Dutch middle weight fighters Iepe Rubingh and Jean Louis Veenstra faced each other in the ring. Rubingh won the fight in 11th round going down in the history books as the first ever World Chessboxing Champion. The same goes for the Chess Boxing Club Berlin, created in the following year(2004), that is the first of its kind mailing Berlin the birthplace of Chessboxing.
Chessboxing first received credit from the international Chess Federation FIDE, in April 2008, it's president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, took part in Chessboxing demo fight in Elista. At the same time the Chessboxing community began to grow globally at even faster rate. In 2011, the first international club matchup took place with Berlin and London in the ring. London came out the winner with 2:1 won bouts.
The Chessboxing organisation India was founded in 2011 by kickboxing official and former Indian kickboxing and karate champion Montu Das. With this, the growth of Chessboxing in Asia gained momentum with the first Chessboxing Organisation in Western Asia.
At the same time , the process of turning Chessboxing professional reached a milestone. The 2013 World Championship in Moscow was the first Chessboxing event organised and marketed by Chess Boxing Global.
A Chessboxing fight consists of 11 rounds, 6 rounds of chess and 5 rounds of boxing. Chess and boxing rounds alternate, begining and ending with a round of chess. Each round lasts 3mins , regardless of whether it involves chess or boxing. The total amount of chess playing time is 18mins, making it 9mins each player. After each chess round ,the exact setup is digitally recorded and repositioned before the following chess round. The breaks in between the Chess and boxing rounds usually last 60 seconds. The duration of the rounds and overall fight time in amateur Chessboxing fights can change to somedegree ,as in for example youth tournaments and exhibition fights.
A chessboxer must have strong skills in both Chess and boxing in order to be permitted to compete in a professional Chessboxing fight. The current minimum requirements to fight in a Chess Boxing Global event include an Elite rating of 1600 and a record of at least 50 amateur bouts fought in boxing or another similar martial arts. Fighters have to mainly train in speed chess. However Chessboxing is not only the ability to master two sports but above all, being able to withstand the constant switch from a full contact sport to a thinking sport, round after round. This switch becomes extremely hard for the athlete as the fight goes on and he becomes tired.
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