What sets chessboxing apart from other sports and from chess and boxing themselves?

In Einstein’s celebrated equation E=mc2, we're shown how, if you transformed matter into pure energy, it produces a power far greater than what an ordinary object would be expected to ever release, becoming the basis for nuclear power and arsenals, among other things. It also shows how the combination of two things doesn’t just result in the total of adding up the distinct parts, but a product that is far more potent. One plus one in this case equals three, and in business speak the overused term is even called synergy.

Chessboxing is no different: the demands it requires from players is a lot more than one would expect, because it isn’t just a boxing match plus a chess game, but the fiery implications involved in switching from one to the other. In the same way that while many methods can be carried over from the world of chess and boxing into chessboxing, there are whole new differences in the latter that a new set of techniques are required to give a chessboxer the edge. It isn’t enough to just practice chess techniques combined with boxing techniques. There’s more. And to excel in the game, a serious player needs to brush up on them.

For example, after a boxing round, players are naturally overloaded with adrenalin, pain, exhaustion and the physical stress innate in the round. In boxing, this is just natural as the players brace themselves to prepare for the next round, trying to retain their focus on winning the match and build up on the previous rounds’ tension. But in chessboxing, there’s a marked difference.

After the boxing round follows the chess round. It’s difficult enough to be in a boxing event, just as it is emotionally and psychologically very taxing to be in a chess match. In chessboxing, for all the battering each player has suffered in the boxing round, he has to let go of it all to try and focus his mind not just to concentrate on the chess board and see patterns for a winning play, but also try to remember what his intentions and tactics were in the previous chess rounds, and then try to apply it into his strategy for the overall game, if he can even remember it at all after all that fighting and frenzy going. All this while knowing full well that the chess round is just as important as the boxing round where losing in either one loses you the match.

Conversely, because of the chess round, the following round of boxing is not as tiring because of the physical break taken during that round. In other words, the processes may be the same, but the implications are simply different.

We asked chessboxing founder, pioneer, and champion Iepe Rubingh about his views on the matter. Chessboxing’s appeal may partly lie in the fusion of boxing and chess, but it is its own discipline that has its own differences. We ask him what his perspective on them are, coming not only from the organizer but a genuine chessboxer himself. We ask what he has learned, and what are the distinct matters that sets chessboxing apart.

Chessboxing is grueling. As a player who has been in (and won) a championship, tell us more about the differences and how you feel during the boxing and chess portions.

In a chessboxing fight the player has to be extremely careful at the beginning of the chess round, which is when the pulse and adrenalin are at the highest. Normally, a chess player has to think twice before he or she makes a move.

In chessboxing you have to check the basics of a move three times. As for tactics, it turned out that making the last move just before the end of the chess round gives you an advantage. This means your opponent, has to struggle with the adrenalin at the beginning of the next chess round while additionally being under pressure to make the next move.

Additionally, there is one thing that we will take a closer look at, and we will have more statistics and facts after more fights: In the fight in Amsterdam as well as at the latest fight in Berlin, the more aggressive boxer seemed to have more difficulties in keeping up with the quality of his game on the chessboard.

As for boxing, you have 6 minutes to regenerate between each boxing round. This means that the boxers are fit again and the tiring process is not as hard as in a normal boxing fight.


What and How different are the chess and boxing components of chessboxing from that of chess and boxing in themselves?

Basically the WCBO rules are based on the FIDE rules for a ´Blitz game´ and boxing rules of the AIBA. In a chessboxing fight two opponents play alternating rounds of chess and boxing. The contest starts with a round of chess, followed by a boxing round, followed by another round of chess and so on. A round of chess takes 4 minutes. Between rounds there is a 1 minute pause, during which competitors change their gear. A round of boxing takes 2 minutes. We have also developed some extensions and modifications on the AIBA and FIDE rules. For more information everybody can download the rules on our website.


New techniques. Are there nuances and techniques that have come out in chessboxing that is unique only to it? For example, there are certain techniques in boxing and there are important key points in chess. But chessboxing combines both in its own way (bullet chess style with boxing rounds, etc.), yet it is its own sport, and therefore there must be combinatorial techniques that are unique to chessboxing (focus on your chess more; exhaust the opponent in order to flank him in the game; etc.) alone, that you and the players have learned, discovered or developed. Care to expound on the matter?

Of course this sport develops its own tactics. Will I play a defensive chess game and try to impress my opponent in boxing so that he will make a terrible mistake in the chess rounds to come? Or maybe I can even knock him out? It so happens that indeed, a chessboxing fight develops its own dynamic.

In Amsterdam I started with an Aljechin defense, because I knew Luis is not a chess player who likes to take the initiative. My goal was to let him make the first mistake and then take advantage of this and then win the game, knowing that knocking him out would be a hard task. It turned out that I was too impatient and I didn’t stick to my strategy, so that I made the first mistake that caused a lost position for me on the chessboard. This forced me to take him out in boxing. I almost knocked him out in the 8th and 10th round, but was lucky enough that I had a time advantage in chess, which brought me victory.

Generally speaking it’s still too hard and too early to tell what the winning strategy could be for a chessboxing match. By analyzing the games we will probably get a better overview.


Are there any specific techniques you’d like to share?

We do train specific techniques. For instance Andreas ‘D’ Schneider had some training sessions in which he ran 400 meters at full speed and then played 4 minutes of chess, after which he ran another round and so on. The same goes for some of the training methods at the CBCB. We play a gong chess game. This means one has 20 seconds to make a move. While one is preparing his/her move at the chessboard the other player is punching a boxing back. When the 20 seconds are over, players change position, and so on. These are all methods to improve the control over your body and mind to be prepared for the change from a boxing round into a chess round.

For the future we are planning to work together with sports scientists to see if we can develop other training techniques to improve the skills one needs for a chessboxing fight.


What do you think that people watching really enjoy? Many people who watch a chessboxing event end up totally enthralled and amazed. What is it, in your opinion, that really engages them or catches their attention and enjoyment?

First of all, because chessboxing is a very new thing, people tend to be totally surprised by the setting of seeing a chessboard in a boxing ring when they come into the venue.

We also decided recently that we will only set up chessboxing fights in off-locations. This gives you the mood and feeling of a backyard special event that not too many people know about. We then catch the people with some really good show elements. It all starts with the WCBO’s 3D animation that blasts on the video screens, then the ring announcer shouts the information about the fighters out of his lungs, and there he is, “Fighter A” with a rapper walking in front of him, his trainer behind him.

After the national anthems the public is excited and hot and can’t wait to see the match getting started. As the game starts with chess the public has to calm down just like the chessboxers have to. Guided by chess commentators, they have to concentrate themselves to follow the game on the video screens. In the following boxing round, people tend to get really excited and start screaming out loud.

I think our audience is really entertained because they go from one extreme to the other. It’s like sitting in a rollercoaster. They can feel and imagine how difficult it must be for the fighters to go from one discipline to the other (at the extreme ends of physical and mental aspects).

What do you think are the winning traits of a chessboxer? What are the winning characteristics chessboxers should strive for?

Simply that He/She should not be lazy, because you will have to train a lot to get both disciplines right and apply the combination on a world-class level. And then most important of all, you will need a playful or a stubborn control over your mind.


What advice could you give current and budding chessboxers worldwide?

Train a lot. Fight in the ring and wage war on the board. In other words do not fight in a bar and do not wage a war in the Middle East. Contact the WCBO and we will support you with our infrastructure, experience and knowledge. Let’s start a chessboxing revolution!