Chess Boxing - History

History

The hybrid sport was envisioned in 1992 by comics artist Enki Bilal, and chess boxing was featured in his graphic novel Froid Équateur. Iepe Rubingh brought the concept to life, fighting under the name "Iepe the Joker". Rubingh felt the method described in the book, a boxing match followed by a chess match, was impractical. He instead decided on alternating rounds of chess and boxing.

A similar concept was featured in the 1991 Finnish film Uuno Turhapuro—herra Helsingin herra, where the hero plays blindfold chess against one person using a hands-free telephone headset while boxing another person. It is not known if Bilal was aware of the movie. There was also a 1979 movie by director Joseph Kuo called Ninja Checkmate; the English-dubbed American version was known as the Mystery of Chess Boxing. It does not feature chess boxing, but it is probably the inspiration for the Wu-Tang Clan song "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'" on their first album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993). Wu-Tang Clan producer RZA is a fan and advocate of the sport.

The earliest chessboxing reference occurred in London in 1978 when two brothers Stewart and James Robinson began chessboxing at the Samuel Montagu Boys Club. Iepe Rubingh was unaware of this before being shown the picture at the Berlin vs London press conference in June 2011.

The sport is governed by the World Chess Boxing Organisation (WCBO), whose strapline is "The smartest toughest (wo)man on the planet." The first world championship was held in Amsterdam in 2003 and was won by Iepe Rubingh. The First European Chess Boxing Championship took place in Berlin on October 1, 2005. Tihomir Atanassov Dovramadjiev of Bulgaria defeated Andreas "D" Schneider of Germany, who conceded in the seventh (chess) round.