- Who
- World Chess Boxing Organisation
- What
- 20 year(s)
- Where
- Not Applicable ()
- When
Bringing together two unlikely activities, the World Chess Boxing Organisation (WCBO), headquartered in Berlin, Germany, has been hosting global competitions since 2003. It was founded by Iepe Rubingh (Netherlands, d. 2020), who won the very first championship after his opponent, Jean-Louis Veenstra, exceeded the chess time limit at the Paradiso event venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on 14 November 2003.
Chess boxing is a hybrid sport that alternates one round of each discipline. The graphic novel Froid Équateur by French comic creator Enki Bilal served as the idea for Rubingh's invention of this sport. In Rubingh's variation on chess boxing, participants face off in 11 rounds of alternating three-minute timed chess and traditional boxing, with the goal of winning both.
Over the last two decades, the format has progressively expanded throughout the world, accompanied by local regulatory organizations.
The WCBO's motto is: "Fighting is done in the ring and wars are waged on the board."
