Chessboxing is a recently invented competition in which two participants alternate rounds of speed chess and boxing. The first annual World Chess Boxing Championship was held on May 12 2003 in Amsterdam between "Lepe" of Germany and "Luis" of Holland. Lepe was the winner in the 11th round. The event was attended by 100s of spectators as well as media coverage and had the official endorsement of the Royal Dutch Chess Association as well as the Dutch Boxing Organisation . The first formal Chessboxing club has been founded in Berlin and its promoters hope to have another event as a side show at the next Olympic games.

Chessboxing matches feature four minutes of chess playing (inside a boxing ring) and two minutes of boxing for each round. Fights are held to a maximum of eleven rounds.

Chessboxing's Latin motto is: "mens sana in corpore sano" (a healthy mind in a healthy body).

External link

• http://www.wcbo.org/
• http://www.chessboxing.com/
• http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1348