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Chess boxing! What, you may ask,
is he talking about? Has the
President of the World Boxing
Federation completely lost the
plot when he mentions chess
boxing - two completely
different sports?
Chess, the ultimate cerebral
board game, and boxing, physical
sport of great brutality and
strength. Two completely
opposite concepts but are they
really so different? Are there
any similarities between the two?
Chess can be loosely described
as a duel defined by cruelty,
ruthlessness, strategy and
violence. Is boxing not the
same?
Both chess players and boxers
compete to seek an advantage, to
gain momentum, to out-muscle and
outwit their opponent, and
finally to get the opponent to
succumb to the their superior
skills.
Along comes Dutch performance
artist Iepe Rubingh, who
invented a new sport called
Chess Boxing! Yes, chess boxing
does exist!
The game consists of 11
alternate rounds between boxing
and chess. One round chess, one
round boxing and so on. Crazy
but true! A game of brain and
brawn.
Some of the world’s best
fighters, interestingly enough,
are fanatical chess players such
as the Klitschko brothers,
Lennox Lewis, Manny Pacquiao,
Firat Arslan (whom I had the
pleasure to play in 2015 in
Germany) to mention but a few.
I’m ready and willing to get
into the ring against Vitali,
Wladimir, Lennox, Firat and
Manny and issue a WBF challenge
to them to a chess match. Chess
yes, but boxing I’ll give it a
miss leaving it to the experts
rather.
Until next time, keep boxing.
Howard Goldberg
PRESIDENT: World Boxing
Federation
Note: WBF President Howard
Goldberg was a South African
schools champion and one of
South Africa’s top chess players
for many years.
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