4 facts about chessboxing - an unusual hybrid of chess and boxing

In recent years, many unusual and even more than strange sports have appeared in the world that do not fit into the mind of an ordinary person. But there are special ones among them, in which seemingly incompatible things are combined. For example, boxing and chess. Despite the fact that few people know about chessboxing, competitions are held in it and it even has its own champions. So what is this sport?

Chess players have long been considered weak and boxers stupid. But there was a person who decided to break the system and unite sports disciplines that were completely incompatible at first glance. The creator of chessboxing is a person far from professional sports, but this did not stop him from giving the world an original and even exciting spectacle.

The artist Enki Bilal came up with the idea of combining chess and boxing in one sport. In 1992, his comic book "Froid-Équateur" introduced the idea of chessboxing. But the father of this discipline is Ipe Rubing, also an artist, who first brought the idea to life. The first chessboxing competition was held in Rubing's homeland in Holland in 2003, and it was he who became the first champion.

I would like to perceive chessboxing as a comedy show, but I have to come to terms with the fact that it is a serious sport. There is a World Chessboxing Organization (WCBO) and sports clubs have been created in different countries. The largest of them is located in Germany, in Berlin - its ranks include more than 50 athletes. Chessboxing competitions are held all over the world, including in Russia. In 2009, one of the largest tournaments in the history of this sport took place in Krasnoyarsk. The title of Russian chessboxing champion has been held by Nikolai Sazhin for many years.

Like any other sport, chessboxing has its own rules. There are 11 rounds in total. In the first round, athletes play chess for 4 minutes, then rest for 1 minute and move on to the second round, in which they box for 3 minutes. Intellectual and fighting rounds replace each other until one of the opponents is knocked out or checkmate the other. A technical knockout is also possible if one of the opponents gives up or runs out of chess time.

You can feel the atmosphere of the fight only by seeing it with your own eyes. This is how competitions take place in this very unusual sport.