Chessboxing?

One of the minor irritations of being a chess fan is that when chess is mentioned in the mainstream media, it is usually because a chess player did something odd, not something brilliant. Recent mainstream chess stories include a player losing on purpose to protest pairings, and Kirsan resigning/not resigning, though at least that is less toxic than some of Kirsan’s previous headlines.

Over the weekend, chessboxing made some headlines in the UK as a UKIP Member of the European Parliament (no political comments thanks!) Jonathan Arnott  made a highly unsuccessful debut. There is a Quality Chess connection, as Andrew was at the bout as a spectator, and Mr Arnott is in the same 4ncl squad as Colin (though usually in the second team, while Colin is of course in the first team).

The basic idea of chessboxing is that two players/fighters play chess for a while, then box for a while, then back to the chess game, and so on. Checkmate or knockout ends the contest.

You can see a video of the boxing part of the Arnott bout here, though it might be best avoided if you like proper boxing. The chess part was not pretty either, but from Arnott’s opponent.


One undoubted plus of the chessboxing event was that Mr Arnott was raising money for a Spinal Muscular Atrophy charity (link to donation site). So full credit to Mr Arnott for that.

So what do you think about chessboxing? Fascinating hybrid sport? Piece of nonsense for two people who are no good at either sport?

3 thoughts on “Chessboxing?”

  1. LE BRUIT QUI COURT

    ### GM Repertoire Pirc for Black by GM Marin ###

    Hello,

    Can you reveal us if Marin will use 2 lines against major lines, for example …c5 and …0-0 against Austrian Attack?

    Please bear also in mind that Marin usually picks solid but passive lines which leads to tenable positions to hold for strong players… but not also for mortals like I am 🙂

    Such case was with his books on 1… e5.

    Regards.

  2. Having just watched the video it appears to be a lopsided hybrid, in that you can be successful if you are rubbish at chess but not if you are a boxing rabbit.

    Anyone up for chesssnooker? . . . and for those of you watching in black and white, the pink is next to the queen
    🙂

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