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.
