Kiwi musician inspired by ‘chess boxing’
Fri, 03 Oct 2008 8:40p.m.

Click here to watch the video.

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 8:40p.m.

Reb Fountain is a Kiwi musician who has drawn comparisons to Anika Moa and Bic Runga.

She has just released her second single “TAB”, which focuses on the rather odd sport of chess boxing.

Yes it turns chess boxing is actually a sport.. And the star of her video is actually a chess boxer.

Boxing and chess. They seem worlds apart but they are not.

New Zealand musician Reb Fountain has chosen chess boxing as the focus for her new video off her debut album.

It is a popular sport in Europe, with the World Chess Boxing Organisations headquarters located in Berlin, Germany.

A typical match is made up of 11 alternating rounds of speed chess, and boxing.

“It is odd, quite beautiful, intense chess intellectual sport, and then boxing and then bleeding I liked the idea of that,” says Reb Fountain.

Reb Fountain recruited New Zealand boxer Dylan Russell for her music video, a man who is keen to become New Zealand’s first ever chess boxer – a sport which does have advantages over standard boxing.

“You get a round off in between to play chess! Longer rest! Its something you can take up as when you finish boxing and retire sort of. Good for the mind – they say boxing is like a game of chess,” says Russell.

Reb Fountain is not quite the first musician to focus on chess boxing, back in 1993, The Wu Tang Clan also wrote a song about the sport.

While it has yet to take off in New Zealand, Russell is planning some chess boxing nights in Auckland, so if you’ve got brains and brawn, start training.

Source: http://www.3news.co.nz

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