Post: #1

Anyone done this? Looks pretty challenging.

I searched the forum but found nothing. Can't believe RVF doesn't have this in any thread yet.

From Wikipedia,

Structure and rules
A full match consists of eleven rounds: six rounds of chess, each three (WCBO) / four (WCBA) minutes long, and five rounds of boxing, each three minutes long (four minutes under amateur rules). The match begins with a chess round which is followed by a boxing round. Rounds of chess and boxing alternate until the end of the match. There is a one-minute break between each round, during which competitors cool out and change gear. Rules of fast chess are used, and a competitor only has a total of twelve minutes to use for all his chess moves. Player's chess time is measured using a chess clock.
A competitor may win the match during a boxing round by knockout or a technical stoppage by the referee, by achieving a checkmate or if the opponent's twelve minutes run out during a chess round, or by the opponent's resignation at any point. If the chess game reaches a stalemate, the scores from the boxing rounds are used to determine the winner. If the boxing score (calculated on a round-by-round basis) is also a draw, the outcome is declared as a tie.

Post: #2

Why do you quote wikipedia?

First, introduce us to a real club or people who do this. Is this thing even alive? This looks like something Artur Conan-Doyle characters would do, but I doubt real world has enough people who are both fit and smart, both street-practical and theory-geeky enough to even like both box and chess simultaneously. prove me wrong, please.

Post: #3

I love the idea of chessboxing. Combining physical and mental strength into one sport. Unfortunately, like Mage points out this doesn't seem commonplace whatsoever, at least in America.

Here's a link to USA Chess Boxing:

http://usachessboxing.com/

It seems like they're trying to recruit amateur boxers and train them in chess, not vice versa.

I think your best bet is to just train these separately.

Post: #4

Related
The Mystery of Chessboxin' by the Wu Tang Clan





It ain't nothin' ta fuck wit.

Post: #5

(08-19-2014 08:40 AM)Mage Wrote:  Why do you quote wikipedia?

First, introduce us to a real club or people who do this. Is this thing even alive? This looks like something Artur Conan-Doyle characters would do, but I doubt real world has enough people who are both fit and smart, both street-practical and theory-geeky enough to even like both box and chess simultaneously. prove me wrong, please.

Because I'm making a request for RVF personal experiences with this. I have no chessboxing data sheet to drop on you.

Plenty of us are fit enough and smart enough, and I really was surprised it hasn't been discussed here.

I love the idea of sports that combine multiple disciplines, hitting the bag, and banging the chess clock while watching my opponent squirm. Chessboxing fits.

Shit, you're trolling, aren't you. Can't believe I took so much time responding (facepalm).

Post: #6

Too many white knights.

Post: #7

(08-19-2014 02:40 PM)tarquin Wrote:  Too many white knights.

Only 2!

Post: #8

(08-19-2014 09:32 AM)Seth_Rose Wrote:  I love the idea of chessboxing. Combining physical and mental strength into one sport. Unfortunately, like Mage points out this doesn't seem commonplace whatsoever, at least in America.

Here's a link to USA Chess Boxing:

http://usachessboxing.com/

It seems like they're trying to recruit amateur boxers and train them in chess, not vice versa.

I think your best bet is to just train these separately.

Thanks for the link Seth_Rose. I'm already looking for a gym out here to up my boxing. If I find a sparring partner who plays chess, I'll see if I can get a bout going and report back.

Post: #9

It seems harder to get reasonably good at boxing than at chess, but harder to get very good at chess than at boxing. I'd say that's the reason why most new recruits in this field come from people with boxing experience learning chess, not the opposite.

Post: #10

This is some serious man shit. And in what universe is "something Arthur Conan-Doyle characters would do" an knock on anything???

Post: #11

(08-20-2014 08:58 AM)h3ltrsk3ltr Wrote:  This is some serious man shit. And in what universe is "something Arthur Conan-Doyle characters would do" an knock on anything???

I love balance and well rounded personality. But in real world there are going to be very few people with well rounded personalities to have interest in this. There will be fewer spectators in this hybrid then in the pure sports and there will be less money. Consequently any chess boxer who will become rather good in any discipline will more likely to move either to pure boxing or pure chess for larger money and fame.

Chessboxing can only be a gentlemens sport for amateurs. Only for people who want to develop strong well rounded personalities and there is always only a few such people. Only the same amount of men who can learn game and only approximately the same people can be chessboxers. The masses would never appreciate such a thing.

Post: #12

Which of these iconic men would win in a chessboxing contest?

   

vs.

   

Whom would you bet on?

Post: #13

(08-20-2014 09:18 AM)Mage Wrote:  

(08-20-2014 08:58 AM)h3ltrsk3ltr Wrote:  This is some serious man shit. And in what universe is "something Arthur Conan-Doyle characters would do" an knock on anything???

I love balance and well rounded personality. But in real world there are going to be very few people with well rounded personalities to have interest in this. There will be fewer spectators in this hybrid then in the pure sports and there will be less money. Consequently any chess boxer who will become rather good in any discipline will more likely to move either to pure boxing or pure chess for larger money and fame.

Chessboxing can only be a gentlemens sport for amateurs. Only for people who want to develop strong well rounded personalities and there is always only a few such people. Only the same amount of men who can learn game and only approximately the same people can be chessboxers. The masses would never appreciate such a thing.

In the real world, a well-rounded man does himself a favor when perusing niche activities that improve his mind and body. This seems like a challenging, cool and beneficial exercise for people who are into boxing and/or chess.

And, most of all, fuck what the masses appreciate. That makes it even more attractive to people who claim to be red-pill since there is more opportunity to get in on the ground floor.

I agree this seems like more of a hobby than a full-on sport but who knows...

   

Post: #14

I think Tyson would knock him out in a few seconds. That of course assumes he hasn't already been checkmated...

Post: #15

(08-19-2014 04:23 PM)Engineer Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 09:32 AM)Seth_Rose Wrote:  I love the idea of chessboxing. Combining physical and mental strength into one sport. Unfortunately, like Mage points out this doesn't seem commonplace whatsoever, at least in America.

Here's a link to USA Chess Boxing:

http://usachessboxing.com/

It seems like they're trying to recruit amateur boxers and train them in chess, not vice versa.

I think your best bet is to just train these separately.

Thanks for the link Seth_Rose. I'm already looking for a gym out here to up my boxing. If I find a sparring partner who plays chess, I'll see if I can get a bout going and report back.

I'd like to see where this goes as well. I plan on seeing if I can get a sparring partner or two involved just for fun on the side.

Post: #16

It's really easy to learn basic defensive chess strategies that would make it hard to be mated before you had the chance to get in the ring.

Post: #17

(08-19-2014 02:40 PM)tarquin Wrote:  Too many white knights.

Legit had me laughing on the floor.

(08-19-2014 02:48 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 02:40 PM)tarquin Wrote:  Too many white knights.

Only 2!

One too many.

Post: #18

(08-20-2014 09:49 AM)Seth_Rose Wrote:  I think Tyson would knock him out in a few seconds. That of course assumes he hasn't already been checkmated...

To even things up in the boxing portion, Tyson would be restricted to using only a jabbing motion with the extended pinky finger of his left hand.

Post: #19

Osiris, thanks for the vid.

Now, chessboxing does sound interesting enough to try.

Post: #20

(08-20-2014 09:26 AM)Mage Wrote:  Which of these iconic men would win in a chessboxing contest?

Tyson, because you can't get checkmated in three minutes (unless you're an idiot, but even then you can stall since you have a total of 12 minutes and you don't care about anything other than surviving the first 3) but you can get knocked out in seconds.

Post: #21

(08-21-2014 05:56 AM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  

(08-20-2014 09:26 AM)Mage Wrote:  Which of these iconic men would win in a chessboxing contest?

Tyson, because you can't get checkmated in three minutes (unless you're an idiot, but even then you can stall since you have a total of 12 minutes and you don't care about anything other than surviving the first 3) but you can get knocked out in seconds.

I can see Tyson just sitting there, smiling, making chit-chat in that high-pitched voice giving Garry some boxing tips and asking about the coverage in his health insurance.

Post: #22

Any mediocre chess player wouldn't make 25 moves against Garry Kasparov. I don't think you realize the amount of traps and tactics that these guys foresee. Kasparov would with ease checkmate him even if he was allotted only 1 minute of move time.

Post: #23

I don't know how important the chess part of chessboxing would be. If you're out there kimbo slicing chess nerds you probably don't even have to know the rules to be good at this 'sport'.

Post: #24

(08-21-2014 10:23 AM)lavidaloca Wrote:  Any mediocre chess player wouldn't make 25 moves against Garry Kasparov. I don't think you realize the amount of traps and tactics that these guys foresee. Kasparov would with ease checkmate him even if he was allotted only 1 minute of move time.

Yes, but the first round of chess is only 3 minutes, that is 180 seconds. Assuming ultra-fast rounds of 10 seconds (and I don't know if it's that fast), that means 9 moves for each player, 18 if the other one is playing at the speed of light. Let's say 12 moves per round for the "defending" player is an average.

Can someone who has only learned chess moderately survive 12 moves against Gary Kasparov? I certainly believe so. I see no reason for it to not be true. And when the game moves into the first round of boxing, Tyson wins. There's no way that an average boxer will stand up to a world champion for 3 minutes.

The simple fact remains that chess is a slower sport than boxing, even if using blitz rules.

Post: #25

(08-22-2014 05:59 AM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  

(08-21-2014 10:23 AM)lavidaloca Wrote:  Any mediocre chess player wouldn't make 25 moves against Garry Kasparov. I don't think you realize the amount of traps and tactics that these guys foresee. Kasparov would with ease checkmate him even if he was allotted only 1 minute of move time.

Yes, but the first round of chess is only 3 minutes, that is 180 seconds. Assuming ultra-fast rounds of 10 seconds (and I don't know if it's that fast), that means 9 moves for each player, 18 if the other one is playing at the speed of light. Let's say 12 moves per round for the "defending" player is an average.

Can someone who has only learned chess moderately survive 12 moves against Gary Kasparov? I certainly believe so. I see no reason for it to not be true. And when the game moves into the first round of boxing, Tyson wins. There's no way that an average boxer will stand up to a world champion for 3 minutes.

The simple fact remains that chess is a slower sport than boxing, even if using blitz rules.

I was quite good at chess when I was younger. I used to play in competitions and whatnot.

One day, at a school, and they were having an amateur hour kids chess club thing. A friend asked me to play against this little savant kid because they'd heard I was good and nobody could do anything with this 11 year old.

Bear in mind I'd played chess for years at that point. I hadn't lost a game in years either.

This little kid annihilated me 5 times in a row. The games were so short that it felt like I was getting beat by a fools-mate every time.

A couple of years on, and this kid plays chess semi-competitively. He isn't going to be the next World-beater or anything. But still, he would annihilate anyone who wasn't specifically trained in chess.

A proper chess grandmaster World champion would annihilate someone so quickly you wouldn't believe it. People who are really great at chess see the board in a different way - it's a Matrix of potential moves to them.

To say that Mike Tyson could hold off Kasparov is like saying that Kasparov could learn a bit of footwork and hold off Tyson by running away for the whole round.