If you’re competitive enough, a chess match can turn into FISTICUFFS. Or, maybe it’s just a new MASH-UP. There’s a boxing gym in Brooklyn, New York, which has been running chess boxing events. (???) They combine speed chess and live boxing sparring and they say that no previous experience in either is required.
There are also 90-minute classes that mix “high intensity cardio, technical ring work, and strategic chess training” every Sunday. The cost is $40 for drop-ins . . . $20 for members of the gym . . . or $60 for unlimited.
There are 11 total “rounds” . . . six rounds of chess, alternating with five boxing rounds. And each are about three minutes long.
For example, contestants will start with chess, and when the time expires, the match is paused, and the competitors will put on boxing gloves and step into the ring. Then, after three minutes, they return to the game board.
You “win” through a knockout a checkmate a “time forfeit” on the chess clock a “resignation in either discipline” or a referee stoppage. Supposedly, the idea was inspired by a graphic novel in the ’90s, and a performance artist’s version in 2003.
This isn’t just a stunt at one gym. There are three major chess boxing clubs in New York and the thinking is that it could catch on in other cities as well.
The people who have done it say that it’s a “cathartic” mental and physical workout, that is meant to be fun and not taken too seriously.