Women. There are already a growing number of female boxers, just as Polgar et al are very strong in chess. What are your views on women playing an important role in the future of chessboxing?

Personally, yes. I would be very proud to present the first female chessboxing fight.

And there will be one sometime soon.

Where do the chessboxing enthusiasts come from? Are there more enthusiasts that enter chessboxing from a background in boxing? From a background in chess? Are they typically already interested completely in both, from other sports or develop one after the other? Is it typically someone who likes both, or just one, and if so, which one?

We have them all. Interested chess players with some fighting experience; experienced boxers with good chess skills; experienced boxers with low chess knowledge; people who only know the chess rules but still want to join (as experienced in our chessboxing club here in Berlin); and those who don’t even know the chess rules and can’t tell the difference between kickboxing and boxing. (Obviously we have to refuse this latter group at the door of our chessboxing club.)

Apart from chess and boxing, what other sport or martial arts activity serves as a source of influence for a chessboxing enthusiast? For example, there are plenty of people who are into MMA (mixed martial arts) who are easily convinced of the viability and enjoyment of chessboxing. Do you know of others and why?

Until now, we haven’t been really in contact with such people, except for a few like Soichiro The Cho Yabai from Tokyo, who is a former Thai boxer and the boxing trainer of Luis the Lawyer, who was a vice world champion in kickboxing, as well as being in contact with Eddy Rollon who owns a Combat Sports Academy in New York. (www.teamandgame.com)

In chessboxing’s short history, describe one or two poignant events that you consider the most memorable. Also, what would you consider the best, worst and funniest things that happened in its development?

The talks together with Simon Gribling, the director of the Dutch Chess Association, and Arnold Vanderlijde who is a 3-time bronze medal Olympic heavyweight boxing champion and official of the Dutch boxing association, were among the most interesting. To have both worlds at one table and talk about the rules of chessboxing and its possible improvements were extremely exhilarating.

Another is the Amsterdam fight and the development of the fight that was decided in the last round in the last seconds of the chess game, after Luis the Lawyer almost went down twice in the boxing round. The tension as well as the adrenalin was just felt all over Paradiso [where the event took place].

The worst thing that ever happened was also in Amsterdam: After a 3 week production time by two of Berlin’s best 3D animators from Mbox, the trailer did not work on our 360° videoscreen. The public only heard the sound of the trailer.

The funniest thing was probably Luis the Lawyer that called me the ugliest person on this planet during the official press conference in Paradiso Amsterdam. And did you see how he himself looked after the fight?

Are there any particular challenges and problems ahead which you foresee? How do you intend to address them?

One of the biggest challenges will be to support people who want to start a chessboxing club. We are now working out a package, which will help the people setting up their own CBC (chess boxing club), and become an official member of the WCBO.

There are a number of possibilities that people can choose. Either you set up your own CBC with its own gym. Or you set up training sessions in an existing boxing gym. At this moment we are supporting Alexandar Yordanov, who is setting up the Bulgarian Chess Boxing Organization. The BCBO will recruit more chessboxers in Bulgaria and eventually set up an event together with the WCBO in Bulgaria.

What and when are the next notable chessboxing events, and how often do you predict these will occur?

At the moment we can manage 3 to 4 chessboxing events a year. I would love to organize a women’s fight, and we are also looking for chessboxers in other weight divisions than the heavy and middleweight divisions. When the structure of chessboxing -with several National CBOs (chess boxing organizations) and CBCs (Chess Boxing Clubs)- will grow, the number of fights will of course rise as well.

How does one become a chessboxer?

If you are still very young (<16), you should just start with attending a boxing club and a chess club separately. If you are a bit older it would be good if one has been training with either boxing or chess in a club. It doesn’t matter whether you have a chess or a boxing background, you just have to be motivated to train with both and learn the combination of both disciplines.

If you are in a boxing club you could start trying out some chessboxing sparring. Just download the rules from the internet, get a digital chess clock and of course a chessboard with the pieces, and try it out. If you are a chess player, just start by attending a boxing gym.

Any word and comments from people in the chess and boxing worlds about chessboxing? What are their opinions about the new sport? Does it matter and is it supposed to matter in your opinion?

Most of the time the boxing world is open to the idea of chessboxing. They understand that it shines a positive light on their sport. In the chess world it tends to be a bit different: either people are very enthusiastic or they really don’t like the idea and they complain about the fact that their noble game has been abused.

To us is doesn’t matter anymore, we now have our own organization. We don’t depend on them. But we do care about a good relationship, because we can all prosper with each other.

How do you select players? What is the elimination and official processes?

At the moment we recruit most of the chessboxers through the internet. There are no official tournaments to qualify by one’s self. This would be impossible to organize at this stage because at the most, people can fight only every 2 to 3 weeks. As you know boxing is a full contact sport and fighters need the time to recover.

Until the structure of the chessboxing has grown, the WCBO’s first concern is to promote the sport and spread the idea. It is my personal responsibility to organize good and exciting fights. This means that both fighters have to be equal in one way or the other. At the same time we want to raise the quality of the fight with every new fight that we present.

What are the typical requirements for a chessboxer?

For a chessboxing fight the requirements are: You should be under 34 years old, in a very good healthy physical condition (this will be checked by a doctor before the fight), at least having 3 years of boxing experience and an estimated chess strength of ELO 1600. Then you have to prepare yourself before the fight for at least another 2 months.

The Internet. Blogs, news sites, and other resources undoubted fuel the growth of the sport. Are you taking steps to further leverage the medium to add more buzz and attention to the sport?

First of all we appreciate the work you all are doing at Chessboxing.com. You are the first independent chessboxing magazine in the internet! As you can see at cbcberlin.de the CBC has a Wordpress blog/website, and we are about to improve the theme. Then we will offer this CBC Wordpress theme to all the people who start a chessboxing club.

Fundamentally, we know the value of the Net, yet it is still amazing to see that such a young sport can attract so much attention with the help of the Internet.