This page is dedicated to the best of chessboxing from around the world and in particular, events organised and staged by London Chessboxing. If you would like to know more about chessboxing or find out how to become a chessboxer please visit the London Chessboxing website.
Important Information and Rules of Chessboxing
Time Each bout consists of a single chess game played in between rounds of boxing. Normally there are eleven rounds in total, 6 chess and 5 boxing. The match is played against the clock, each player has a fixed time (typically 12 minutes) to make all their moves. Moves are timed by two countdown clocks sitting on the table between players. As soon as a player makes a move he activates a button which stops his own clock and starts his opponent’s clock ticking. The longer each player spends thinking about a move, the more time he uses up. As soon as a player’s clock counts down to zero, that player loses. This is called a ‘time penalty”.
In most cases it is best to move as quickly as possible to prevent a time penalty, but if a player gets into a bad position he may feel tempted to slow down the play in order to simply survive to the end of the round. The chess referee (arbiter) must decide if the player is using his time legitimately or is simply “time-wasting”. If it is time-wasting the arbiter will give a 10-second warning and the player must move within this time or forfeit the match. A player who receives 3 ten second warnings forfeits the match.
Draws If a drawn position is reached on the chessboard, the competitors will return to the ring for one final round of boxing. At the end of this round the judges will make a decision based upon punches landed throughout the bout. If a draw occurs in the eleventh round of the contest the judges’ decision is made immediately, without further boxing