Chessboxing
The basic idea in chessboxing is to combine the #1 thinking sport and the
#1 fighting sport into a hybrid that demands the most of its competitors –
both mentally and physically.
This is becoming a very popular chess variant aroud the world, but I must
admit it is a rare variant. 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 contest consists of 11 rounds, 6 rounds of chess, 5 rounds of boxing. A
round of chess takes 4 minutes. Each competitor has 12 minutes on the
chess timer.
A round of boxing takes 3 minutes. Between the rounds there is a 1 minute
pause, during which competitors change their gear. The contest is decided
by: checkmate (chess round), exceeding the time limit (chess round),
retirement of an opponent (chess or boxing round), KO (boxing round), or
referee decision (boxing round). If the chess game ends in a stalement,
the opponent with the higher score in boxing wins. If there is an equal
score, the opponent with the black pieces wins.
There are some iconic chessboxers in conventional chess world, and perhaps
a very good example is the multi-millionary businessman and politic Kirsan
Ilyumzhinov, best known as FIDE president and president of the republic of
kalmykia, in the Russian Federation.
