Chessboxing heavyweight wins by checkmate
By Matthew Moore
Last Updated: 10:03am GMT 08/11/2007
“Float like a butterfly, sting like Boris Spassky”.
BBC: Video of the chessboxing world title
An unlikely simile, but one that could well be the motivational motto of Frank Stoldt (below, in red trunks), who has just been crowned world champion of a unique hybrid sport: chessboxing.
Stoldt, a 37-year-old German, defeated American David “Double D” Depto in front of 1,200 raucous fans in Berlin this week in what is being touted as the ultimate in physical and mental combat.
After parrying the American’s punches in the ring, Stoldt, a policeman known to his fans as “Anti-terror”, clinched the light-heavyweight title with a checkmate late in the seventh round.
The bout was organised by the World Chess Boxing Organisation (slogan: “Fighting is done in the ring and wars are waged on the board”), which has taken over the running of the sport since the first ever fight 2003.
The rules of the game are simple. Bouts are composed of a maximum of 11 alternating rounds of chess and boxing, with checkmates or knock-outs resulting in instant victory.
Fighters can also triumph if the boxing match is stopped by the referee, or if their opponent times-out at the chess board.
Chess rounds last 4 minutes each, and each player has a maximum of twelve minutes to make all their moves.
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What’s the minimum ratings of the competitors? 1600? 1800?
About two punches a second I guess
could you imagine getting rocked by a left hook then go think about chess?? you would be playing the tweetie bird variation.
This is the silliest sport I have ever heard of. I would watch a boxing match between two top opponents, or a chess match between two top opponents but I wouldn’t be interested in either if the boxing or the chess are mediocre. Here you have the worst of both worlds.
They deliver hooks and rooks.
Ugh.
Is there a female championship?