Games - Chess boxing

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	Games - Chess boxing

Chess boxing is a hybrid sport which combines the sports of chess and boxing. One of the goals of this new sport is the old ideal of a healthy mind in a healthy body: mens sana in corpore sano.

The concept was envisioned in 1992 by cartoonist Enki Bilal, and a match of chess boxing was a major plot point of his graphic novel Froid-Équateur. Iepe "the Joker" Rubingh, a Dutch artist, inspired by Bilal's book, brought the concept to life in the spring of 2003.

Curiously enough, chess boxing was featured in the 1991 Finnish movie Uuno Turhapuro herra Helsingin herra, where Uuno plays blindfold chess against one person using a hands-free telephone headset while boxing another person. It is not known if Bilal or Rubingh knew about the movie.

A match between two opponents consists of up to eleven alternating rounds of boxing and chess sessions, starting with a four-minute chess round followed by two minutes of boxing and so on. Between rounds there is a 1 minute pause, during which competitors change their gear. The form of chess played is "blitz chess" in which competitors have a total of twelve minutes. Competitors may win by knockout, checkmate, a judge's decision or if their opponent's twelve minutes of chess time elapses.

The sport is governed by the World Chess Boxing Organisation (WCBO), whose motto is "Fighting is done in the ring and wars are waged on the board." The first world championship was held in Amsterdam in 2003 and was won by Iepe Rubingh himself. The 1st European Chess Boxing Championship took place in Berlin on 1 October 2005 when Tihomir Titschko of Bulgaria defeated Andreas Schneider of Germany after the latter conceded defeat in the seventh round. Titschko will defend his title against Oddvar Raugstad of Norway in Cologne in April 2006.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Chess boxing ]

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