Chess + Boxing = Chess-Boxing
Unless you’re a regular reader of Time magazine, you can be forgiven if you think that the headline “Chess-Boxing Hits it Big” is something that The Onion would produce.
You could also be forgiven if you thought that the Time editors were playing an April Fool’s joke when they reported that the “sport” that was inspired by a comic book in 1992 is now attracting the attention of ESPN.
Um. In either case, though, you would need forgiveness because it’s all apparently true.
Yes, “chess-boxing” — as the name suggests — combines speed-chess with, uh, boxing.
If you check out the website for “the thinking man’s contact sport,” you can see that the “sport” appears to be dominated by Russians, Germans, Bulgarians, and Brits at the moment.
Whether or not this has prospects for success in the US, we’re doubtful — given the fact that chess seems like it’s relatively obscure here.
As much as we think that chess-boxing is crazy, however, we suppose that if it inspires more people — especially boxers and boxing fans — to learn how to play chess… it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
Tags: Boxing, chess, chess-boxing, the onion, time
