News Room Contributor Posts: 8059 Joined: 12 Nov 2002 | World Chess Boxing Champion Crowned
Nikolai "The President" Sazhin has been declared the World Champion of chess boxing, beating the crap out of his opponent before putting him down for the count with a fifth-round checkmate.
Sazhin, a 19-year-old prodigy widely regarded as Russia's most promising chess boxer, holds a record of 49-13-0 along with an Elo rating of 1911, while his opponent, 37-year-old German policeman "Anti Terror" Frank Stoldt boasts an Elo rating of 1960 but came into the match with less experience in the ring, having only 25 fights under his belt. "I took a lot of body blows in the fourth round and that affected my concentration," said Stoldt, the former light heavyweight champion. "That's why I made a big mistake in the fifth round: I did not see him coming for my king."
In chess boxing, matches begin with four minutes of chess, followed by three minutes of pummeling each other senseless. Competitors alternate between six rounds of chess and five rounds of boxing until a victor is declared via knockout, checkmate or points. Players can also be disqualified for violating boxing rules or taking too long to make their moves.
"This is the hard part, you are out of breath but you have to keep your wits about you," said chess boxing instructor David Steppeler. "It is especially hard for the one who has to play first. He can easily make a false move, and in chess this is fatal. So in training we toughen people up by making them do push-ups between every two chess moves."
Chess boxing was first envisioned by French cartoonist Enki Bilal, although it wasn't until 2001 that the novelty sport first came to life through the efforts of Dutch artist Iepe Rubingh, who also won the first WCBO (World Chess Boxing Organization) World Championship in 2003. Stoldt captured the WCBO light heavyweight belt in November 2007 with a dramatic victory over David "Double D" Depto.
And lest you get the idea that chess boxers are just meatheads who slide pawns around on a chess board before getting down to the business of beating the hell out of one another, the top-ranked chess boxers in the world are typically rated between 1700 and 2000 on the Elo chess rating system, ranking them as "Class A" players - one step below Expert - by United States Chess Federation rules.
If this sounds like fun to you (and how could it not?) head over to the official World Chess Boxing Organization website at WCBO.org to learn more.
Source: News.com.au, via Slashdot
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News Room Contributor Posts: 1863 Joined: 19 Aug 2006 | This has the makings of a great BRAVO TV series. |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 1566 Joined: 5 Dec 2007 | Whahaha, Chess is the most awesome game ever. Combining it with anything will lead to pure gold. |
Time Lord Posts: 10063 Joined: 13 Feb 2008 | Next on World of Sport, Backgammon Wrestling...
Seriously, wtf???? |
Beat Writer Posts: 190 Joined: 11 Jan 2008 | that is just too awesome. |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 1583 Joined: 26 Mar 2008 | Chess and boxing, together at last.
They could have a variance of this where you get to king hit your opponent whenever you take one of their pieces. It would make you think VERY carefully about your next move. |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 2768 Joined: 18 Sep 2007 | My... brain... hurts...
So, when's Rollerball coming to the Vegas odds tables?
-- Steve |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 2172 Joined: 14 Nov 2007 | |
World Chess Boxing Champion Crowned
Nikolai "The President" Sazhin has been declared the World Champion of chess boxing, beating the crap out of his opponent before putting him down for the count with a fifth-round checkmate.
Sazhin, a 19-year-old prodigy widely regarded as Russia's most promising chess boxer, holds a record of 49-13-0 along with an Elo rating of 1911, while his opponent, 37-year-old German policeman "Anti Terror" Frank Stoldt boasts an Elo rating of 1960 but came into the match with less experience in the ring, having only 25 fights under his belt. "I took a lot of body blows in the fourth round and that affected my concentration," said Stoldt, the former light heavyweight champion. "That's why I made a big mistake in the fifth round: I did not see him coming for my king."
In chess boxing, matches begin with four minutes of chess, followed by three minutes of pummeling each other senseless. Competitors alternate between six rounds of chess and five rounds of boxing until a victor is declared via knockout, checkmate or points. Players can also be disqualified for violating boxing rules or taking too long to make their moves.
"This is the hard part, you are out of breath but you have to keep your wits about you," said chess boxing instructor David Steppeler. "It is especially hard for the one who has to play first. He can easily make a false move, and in chess this is fatal. So in training we toughen people up by making them do push-ups between every two chess moves."
Chess boxing was first envisioned by French cartoonist Enki Bilal, although it wasn't until 2001 that the novelty sport first came to life through the efforts of Dutch artist Iepe Rubingh, who also won the first WCBO (World Chess Boxing Organization) World Championship in 2003. Stoldt captured the WCBO light heavyweight belt in November 2007 with a dramatic victory over David "Double D" Depto.
And lest you get the idea that chess boxers are just meatheads who slide pawns around on a chess board before getting down to the business of beating the hell out of one another, the top-ranked chess boxers in the world are typically rated between 1700 and 2000 on the Elo chess rating system, ranking them as "Class A" players - one step below Expert - by United States Chess Federation rules.
If this sounds like fun to you (and how could it not?) head over to the official World Chess Boxing Organization website at WCBO.org to learn more.
Source: News.com.au, via Slashdot
Permalink