Friday, April 8, 2011

Hooks vs. rooks

By Frank 'Boy' Pestaño


Friday, April 8, 2011

THERE is a bizarre sport and it features a battle of hooks and rooks and wits and fists.

It’s called chess-boxing and it seems odd to see the two terms in one sentence, much less a single word.

A chess-boxing match starts with both opponents playing blitz chess for four minutes.

If no one wins, they move to the boxing ring where they try to knock each other out during a three-minute round.

If neither are able to, they break for a minute, then hit the chess board again.

In this way, they alternate (there can be up to 11 rounds) until there’s a winner.

Victory, in a standard format, is achieved by checkmate, having the opponent run out of time, or by knocking the opponent out.

Here’s an interesting rule: if the judges’ scores are tied, the one playing with the black pieces wins automatically

It’s a hybrid sport between one that’s considered geeky and one that’s considered macho.

A really strange juxtaposition.

The sport traces its origins to a 1992 comic book by French artist Enki Bilal, “Froid Equateu.”

The comic, which depicted the hybrid sport, inspired Dutch artist Lepe Rubing to make it happen for real.

Competing under name “Lepe the Joker,” Rubingh staged and won an exhibition match in Amsterdam he billed as the “Chess-boxing Middleweight World Championship.”

Rubing said the contest favors the athlete who is clever and strong.

“There is no sport that combines mental and physical aspects, so when I came up with the idea, I was immediately intrigued because it combines mental and physical capabilities,” he said.

Since then, the sport has spread across Europe, become particularly popular in chess-loving Russia, and has started popping up in the United States.

There’s even a governing body called the World Chess Boxing Association, whose tagline is “Fighting is done in the ring, and wars are waged on the board,” and is based in Berlin.

Some of the game’s biggest names include wonderfully titled characters such as Frank “Anti-Terror” Stoldt and Nikolay “The Chairman” Sazhin.

A lot of chess players who are also interested in physical fitness, joined the chess-boxing group.

“You get more fulfilled doing something that involves your mind and your body.

You have a sense of being more well-rounded.”

To avoid incidents where competitors with not the slightest interest in chess could simply batter their opponents after one round of chess, participants must be both experienced pugilists and good chess players.

Any prospective competitors must have an Elo rating of at least 1800, which apparently takes years of training to achieve.

Surprisingly, however, these “dual stars” are more plentiful than you might think

Also, promoters try to make each match relatively balanced.

In the chess portion, a weaker player might start with more time on his clock.

And in boxing, a more experienced player might be instructed to use just one hand, keeping the other behind his back.

Chess-boxing has quite a few high profile admirers.

Former world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis is a fan and so is Ukrainian boxer, Vitali Klitschko.

Indeed, prior to a World Championship fight between the pair in Los Angeles in 2005, Klitschko actually challenged Lewis to a game of chess before they traded blows.

They are both good chess players and are rated over 1900.

Back in the 60s I was a fan of Francisco “Kid” Balug who was the OPBF champion for some time and whose fame to eternal glory is a bread called Francis, which was made popular by Elite Bakery.

Balug is a good chess player who plays at the Colonnade Chess Club and regularly gives me a good massage at home.

Another boxer who is a good chess player is the current sensation Manny Pacquiao.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on April 09, 2011.

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