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Chess boxing
- cousin_it 16y agoSome years ago we invented this sport independently, but our version had three components: boxing, chess, and alcohol.
- khafra 16y agoA round of shots after each round of boxing? I think it could also be livened up by making the event simultaneous: Attempting to avoid falling behind by more than 2 shots or letting your clock run out on the chess game (presumably on a large, sturdy touch screen to let you designate moves while wearing gloves) while dodging punches.
- Jun8 16y agoI loved this idea of combining physical and intellectual combat. The Wikipedia article for Go says: Backgammon is a "man vs. fate" contest, with chance playing a strong role in determining the outcome. Chess, with rows of soldiers marching forward to capture each other, embodies the conflict of "man vs. man". Because the handicap system tells Go players where they stand relative to other players, an honestly ranked player can expect to lose about half of their games; therefore, Go can be seen as embodying the quest for self-improvement—"man vs. self". So the pairing of boxing with chess is quite apt. Which physical games would you choose for backgammon and Go?
- humbledrone 16y agoTo run with the "man vs. self" idea, I would consider pairing a climbing competition with Go.
- pavel_lishin 16y agoAnd Backgammon with Russian Roulette.
- ZeroMinx 16y agoNext chessboxing event in London is now on Saturday! If you haven't seen it, you should. It's brilliant! http://www.londonchessboxing.com/PAGES/Events-%20Up&Coming.html http://www.londonchessboxing.com/PAGES/Events-%20Up&Comi...
- loewenskind 16y agoIs anyone doing any kind of analysis on if players chess play begins to suffer as they take more shots to the head?
- coryl 16y agoNo analysis necessary, getting hit in the head is bad for your health/concentration.
- roel_v 16y agoWell we don't know without analysis... Health concerns are mostly long-term, and there's no definitive answer on how much getting hit in the head is required for permanent brain damage. Re: concentration, I'm even less convinced; maybe it's not the getting hit that is bad for concentration but the switch between mental/physical activity. Or maybe concentration improves with more adrenaline.
- bhickey 16y agoThere are definitely short-term cognitive consequences to getting hit in the head. The nausea you can experience with head trauma can also interfere with thinking. After suffering a blow to the head, I was given a battery of cognitive tests: Repeat this sequence of numbers, and the like. Three days out I was failing the tests rather spectacularly. At five days everything was back to normal.
- whimsy 16y agoNo definitive answer? Surely there are plenty of boxing champions and football players for data on this.
- roel_v 16y agoYes, for boxing champions, but even there it's hard to say what is caused by the boxing and what is caused by genetic factors. People often say 'look at Ali!' but there's no way to tell if it's really because of the boxing. But more importantly, note that I said 'how much getting hit in the head is required'. See e.g. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070502093035.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070502093035.ht... http://www.bmj.com/content/335/7624/809.full http://www.bmj.com/content/335/7624/809.full Both from 2007. First one says that amateur boxers do get brain damage, second one says they don't. (there are the top google hits, I looked into this deeper about 5 years ago; at that time there was very little research done, let alone consensus.) Point being, the question is: does getting hit in the head pose linear risks/ I.e, simplified, do a number of cells die for each punch or kick to the head? Or does it require a certain threshold of damage for there to be any cognitive effects? I don't compete in any sport but I've trained plenty of full contact sports over the last 10 or 15 years. I've been punched and kicked in the face a lot, with and without gloves, been knocked out briefly once, been choked out several times. Still my head/brain has taken nowhere near the amount of punishment a pro or even good amateur fighter gets; my brains gets plenty of time between trainings to recover. I can never know for sure if my training has caused brain damage, and if it did, in what form that will manifest itself (or has already, maybe), but I don't have reasons to believe it affected my cognitive functions. Maybe it did and the damage caused decreased intelligence, making me believe that it didn't :)
- PanMan 16y agoI have read a long article on this (on paper, so no links). It explained that even people who are good at both chess, and boxing, often have issues combining them. The rush of adrenaline of the boxing interferes with the thinking needed for the chess part.
- mfukar 16y agoI prefer Tressling.
- sliverstorm 16y agoIs that like wrestling, only with Tessla coils?
- roel_v 16y agoThere is a certain ELO rating required to participate; can anyone familiar with chess tell me how difficult it is to reach this level? Is it something an amateur can fairly easily obtain or does it really require significant talent and/or study?
- greyman 16y agoIf I googled it correctly, elo 1800 is required. I'd say with average chess talent, it can take about 4-5 years of regular study and competitive play to reach 1800. So taking your description, it's something between...but hard to quantify since how quickly one advances in chess play levels is highly individual.
- roel_v 16y agoYes it's 1800, sorry thought it was mentioned in the Wikipedia article but didn't know it by heart. Well there goes my chance of ever becoming a chess boxer then I guess :)
- binarymax 16y agoI dont have an ELO, but had a USCF of about 1900 when I used to play as a teenager. It took me about five years of lessons and tournaments to get to that point, dedicating about 5 to 10 hours per week or so. Really the best way to improve your game is to play opponents MUCH stronger than you. It can be disheartening losing most of the time, but you will improve much quicker than you would by playing in groups of your own strength.
- cies 16y agoi worked for the organization (www.showroommama.nl) that helped this artist to realize this. it was a really interesting project! the artist had a title battle in amsterdam back then, fighting an amature boxing friend of his. after a heavy battle, the artist, iepe, won by the flag on the chess clock. funny fact: "kung fu" has sometimes been called chess-boxing, as there was so much tactics to it.
- stcredzero 16y agoThere's also a real-time strategy game based on chess called "Kung-Fu Chess". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung-fu_chess http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung-fu_chess
- TomK32 16y agoWell, there's barely know Antichess, or Suicide-Chess http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antichess http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antichess and I'd love to see a Anti-Chess-Boxing. "stop hitting yourself!"
- stcredzero 16y agoThere's an RTS called "Kung-fu Chess." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung-fu_chess http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung-fu_chess It would be interesting to see a game of speed-chess played on a rather large field with 200 to 300 pound weights used as pieces. Another variant: speed-chess on a large field where the pieces are soccer balls. This would lead to tactics where the opponent is made to move a powerful piece like their queen so often that they tire out and make a critical mistake.