COLOGNE, Germany — How weird is too weird? How freaky too freaky? At what point does charm call out for ridicule? These are the questions that arise when considering the new "sport" of chessboxing.
It is Friday night, and doubtless there are better things to do than to pack into a refurbished theater of blue movies and focus the eyes on a couple of anonymous Europeans crouching over a chessboard. They marshal tiny pieces against one another in a battle of quiet strategy. Sound and movement are of the faintest quality. It is as though you have barged into a stranger's parlor. There may yet be time to sneak away.
But then a bell rings and the hall fills with loud music. There are hoots and yells from the darkened sections of seats, along with other signals of unshackled enthusiasm. When the bell rings once more and the eyes refocus, you notice the chess players have begun to punch each other in the nose and in the ribs. There is blood. This is a fight, and it's not bad at that, the theater having transformed into an arena of genuine athletic pursuit. This is no parlor game after all. It is chess and it is boxing, and doubt has begun to fade into curiosity. This may be strange, but it is strangely worth a look.
so apparently they play chess and box in alternating rounds... wtf?
both klitschko bothers(cousins?) are avid chess players. One of them I remember saying "In chess, nobody is an expert but everyone players, but in boxing, everyone is an expert and nobody plays."
On June 23 2006 11:48 Sequence~ wrote: there is an awesome song by the wu-tang clan called "Da Mystery of Chessboxing" ..if that is what they were talking about, it's some wieeeerd shit.
The game of chess is like a swordfight....you must think first...before you move.
Toad style is immensely strong to nearly any weapon, and if used properly, is almost invincible
I read about this a while back, one of the players they mentioned then was called Leko, which was amusing because a guy called Leko is one of the world's top grandmasters.
Bumping this because I just heard about it today, it looks super fucking sweet. Here is a photographic journal by some awesome photographer of two of the events:
I don't know if there's another way to look at it but Vitali doesn't make any sense to me. Of course nobody fights but fighting takes a lot of skill and mindgames too.
I wanted to find someone for a round of BroodwarBoxing ever since I learned about this. Unfortunately it's hard enough to find someone for either sport and next to impossible for both.
On March 01 2010 15:05 JieXian wrote: I don't know if there's another way to look at it but Vitali doesn't make any sense to me. Of course nobody fights but fighting takes a lot of skill and mindgames too.
It is well known that in professional boxing, that fighters avoid other fighters, against whom they feel they might lose. This is made even more commonplace with the many different boxing orgs all having their own champions. Champion boxers make a lot of money from endorsements and sponsorships - fighting is not their primary source of income any more - so retaining the title by any means is quite important
Chess doesn't work like that. If you won't defend your title, you lose it immediately. So much emphasis is placed on competing regularly, that with the exception of players preparing for a world title match, everyone plays in any tournament they can get involved in. Aside from the super elite chess players, everyone is paid quite poorly, if at all, as the only real source of income, aside from teaching, is to place highly in tournaments - but that involves travel, accomadation and entry costs, all which fall on the player. So its a hard life.
"There was also a 1979 movie by director Joseph Kuo called "Ninja Checkmate"; the English-dubbed USA version was known as the "Mystery of Chess Boxing". It does not feature chess boxing, but it is probably the inspiration for the Wu-Tang Clan song "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'" on their first album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993). Wu-Tang Clan producer RZA is a fan and advocate of the sport."
Chessboxing sounds awesome, I'd love to try that even though I'm not too great at either activities.
On March 01 2010 15:17 zatic wrote: I wanted to find someone for a round of BroodwarBoxing ever since I learned about this. Unfortunately it's hard enough to find someone for either sport and next to impossible for both.
I like the idea that if the chess game was going well, you would play ultra defensive in boxing - would make for some interesting games. Kind of like having a macro advantage and trying to survive a series of zerg doom drops
On March 01 2010 15:17 zatic wrote: I wanted to find someone for a round of BroodwarBoxing ever since I learned about this. Unfortunately it's hard enough to find someone for either sport and next to impossible for both.
On March 01 2010 15:17 zatic wrote: I wanted to find someone for a round of BroodwarBoxing ever since I learned about this. Unfortunately it's hard enough to find someone for either sport and next to impossible for both.
Nerds see: Chess boxing Nerd thinks: I could do that, I played chess when I was 12, and I could beat my dad Nerd Realizes: I have to take a punch? WTF, I'm not doing that.
EPT
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