Chessboxing World Championship will be held in Moscow for the first time

To cope with the adrenaline level going wild owing to the constant switching from boxing to mental battle is a complex task for everyone except for the participants of the Chessboxing World Championship which will for the first time ever take place in Moscow by the decision of Chess Boxing Global Marketing (CBGM) and with the support of World Chess Boxing Organisation (WCBO). The only truly intelligent fighting show will be held on the 28th of  November 2013 in the ring at the Izvestia Hall. The 8 most brilliant representatives in 4 weight devisions of this gaining worldwide popularity sport will come to the Russian capital to compete for the opportunity to be called «the smartest toughest man on the planet», and get the title of World Champion in Chessboxing.

The event will be held as the starting point of the series of the events organized by CBGM and WCBO prior to the World Chessboxing Series 2014. Apart from Moscow, the battles will take place in Berlin and Amsterdam. It has been a well-considered decision to arrange the tournament in the Russian capital. «Russia is a country with strong chess and boxing traditions, and we pin great hopes on it,» — says the CEO of Chess Boxing Global Marketing Iepe Rubingh. — We believe that the Moscow event will be a light tower in the history of chessboxing, as it will be an important step in the sport development not only in Russia, but throughout the world as well. »

Chessboxing is a gaining worldwide popularity hybrid sport that combines the #1 thinking sport – chess — and the #1 fighting sport – boxing. The seeming overly exotic idea of such an extraordinary combination first occurred to a real dreamer – film maker and comic author Enki Bilal. In his comic book «Cold Equator» («Froid Equateur») the author narrated about two heavyweight boxers who were fighting for 12 rounds in the ring, and then another 4 hours straight were playing chess. In the XXI century, superheroes from a fairy tale came true: Dutchman Iepe Rubingh embodied the idea of Bilal in life and founded a new sport — Chessboxing.  Smart and at the same time tough people can now be found not only in the pages of adventure novels, but also in numerous Chessboxing clubs that are actively opened by its followers around the world. At the moment there are chessboxing clubs in Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Munich, Mannheim (Germany), Paris, Rome, Shiraz (Iran), Calcutta, Shanghai and Krasnoyarsk. Athletes in the lightweight (<70kg), middle (70-80 kg), light heavyweight (80-90 kg) and heavy (> 90 kg) weight develop not only their physical strength and logical thinking, but also the psychological endurance, which is extremely needed considering the quick transition from boxing to thinking over chess moves during the fights.

Rules of the game by Enki Bilal were adapted in accordance with the international standards of boxing and chess. In the ring, the athletes alternate 3-minute rounds of chess and boxing. The competition lasts 11 rounds and includes six rounds of chess and five rounds of boxing between which they get a 1-minute pause for the change of the play field. One speed game of chess is divided over 6 rounds. Each chessboxer has 9 minutes on the chesstimer. Victory is achieved by knockout, technical knockout, checkmate or exceeding of the chess time limit. If the chess game ends in a draw the decision is made according to the boxing rounds points. If there is a draw in the boxing as well, the winner is the black pieces player.

The current world chessboxing champion in heavyweight division according to WCBO is Nikolai Sazhin, native of Krasnoyarsk and Candidate Master of Sports in boxing and chess . For the first time the athlete won the world championship in the light heavyweight division in 2008, putting mate to the German Frank Stoldt, during a fight in Berlin. Turning to the heavy weight division, he managed to be the first again, beating English man Andy Costello on the board in 2012 in London.  Leonid Chernobayev is the current light heavyweight world champion. With only 22 years, he is known as the pound for pound best chessboxer.  He fought more than 150  amateur boxing fights and has an official Chess FIDE Elo rating of 1997. Chernobayev wants to become a chess grandmaster (ELO Rating 2500) within the next five years.

Chessboxing is managed by World Chessboxing Organization, established in 2003. Its headquarters is based in Berlin and its CEO is Iepe Rubingh. Chess Boxing Global Marketing – is a company associated with WCBO that  deals with the development and distribution of chessboxing as an independent and internationally recognized professional sports discipline with the long-term plans for Olympic recognition of the sport. Every year CBGM and WCBO arrange events and championships.  By 2013 they organized more than 200 fights over 40 events around the world.

On the 28th of November 2013 Muscovites will for the first time have the opportunity to see the unique intelligent fighting show where real superheroes — the smartest and toughest men on the planet — will come together to fight for the chessboxing world championship title.

General ticket agency: www.19-00.ru, +7 495 641 19 00
Izvestia Hall address: Moscow, Pushkinskaya ploshad’, 5