This hybrid sport isn't for everyone. It combines boxing and chess in alternating rounds. The chess is "speed chess" in which each competitor has a total of twelve minutes for the whole game. A player can win by knockout, by checkmate, a judge's decision, or if the opponent's 12 minutes elapse.

The sport is governed by the World Chess Boxing Organisation (WCBO). The sport's motto is: Fighting is done in the ring and wars are waged on the board!

Earlier this month in Berlin, 19 year old Russian math student Nikolai Sahzin, from Siberia, dethroned the defending champion German Frank Stoldt to become the new light heavyweight chessboxing champion of the world. With 1,000 screaming fans in attendance, Stoldt was forced to resign in the 5th round after losing his queen.

The 37 year old Stoldt, a riot policeman, attributed his loss to being "too punch drunk" to ward off Sazhin's advances.

For those of you (like troutbend, who has yet to get over my Harriet Ellis Poore post, LOL) who suspect that I may be making all this up...go to www.chessboxing.com.

Meanwhile, a fan of neither chess (too much thinking) nor boxing (too much punching), I'll stick to such ESPN classics as poker, pool, and hotdog eating. Oh, and girls beach volleyball!

Comments:

oh my, well now I've heard it all

I love to watch Boxing, but I haven't ever seen this...

do the boxers also play chess? and what on earth do you like about girls beach volleyball? yuKKKKKKKKKKKK their buttocks hang out and wobble disgustingly.

comment by clovis on July 21, 2008 9:00 PM ()

Yes, they box AND play chess in alternating rounds. And in girls beach volleyball, I watch the flight of the ball, I don't focus upon their disgusting buttocks as you apparently do.

reply by looserobes on July 22, 2008 5:46 AM ()

I too, will have to go to the website to verify that this insand sport is real.