The Wild Bulls, October 2013 – Report The Wild Bulls, October 2013 – Report
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The Wild Bulls, October 2013 – Report

by Naqib Qazi

A night of drama unfolded on Saturday night as International Chessboxing took centre stage at the Scala in London’s Kings Cross.

A boisterous crowd was treated to an evening of cabaret, pomp and sheer chessboxing excitement.  The event saw top-class talent from across the globe, pit their might and wit against each other in a night of  incident and controversy that will live long in the memory with four bouts that pushed the boundaries of mental and physical prowess to the limit.

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Brown (left) establishes and early advantage

The encounter between Singapore’s Bryan Woon and Yorkshire’s Ricky Brown was the pick of the bunch – a battle that left the Scala crowd gasping in disbelief. The boxing rounds between these two gladiators were action-packed  but evenly matched throughout and the winner was always going to emerge from the rounds of chess – or so it seemed.

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Woon seeks an opening

Both competitors established an early defensive strategy but by round 5, the clock was ticking against Brown with the Yorkshire man having less then 4 minutes on the clock versus Woon’s precious 7 minutes.  However despite the superior time difference, Brown looked to have ground out an advantage which the Singaporean did well to resist.

Then in round 7, Woon began to take control, regaining a queen, as he put Brown on the back foot. The Singaporean was now in complete command and with his eyes fixed  on glory he seemed certain to secure an incredible checkmate win. But at the last moment, calamity! With scant material on the board Brown found himself with no legal moves and not being in check, the referee called for the game to finish in a stalemate.

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Honours even

The Scala crowd looked on in amazement at what they had just witnessed, Woon somehow scraping a draw from the clutches of victory. It was however the most appropriate of outcomes – the entire contest, boxing included, was a well fought out game of strategic chess. There was no clear winner in the majority of the rounds as each man countered and probed waiting for the other to slip up.

So whilst both combatants will no-doubt be disappointed with the result from a personal perspective nobody deserved to lose a contest that will be remembered long after Saturday night, and that will go down in the annals of chessboxing history.

 

Tim Woolgar, founder of London Chessboxing said : “ It was an superb effort from both fighters and I hope to persuade Ricky and Bryan to come back for a  rematch next year.  The Wild Bulls show was an incredible night with four great bouts encapsulating everything the sport is about.  We had  great boxing and some great chess and above all we had a superb atmosphere with the crowd really getting involved and adding their voice to the proceedings. 

 “Chessboxing combines serious sport with a seriously entertaining night out. You have to see to believe and once you’ve been to one night of chessboxing you’ll be hooked for good!”

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The critical moment:  Ouch (right) finds the right move to defeat Tim Woolgar in an high-class game

 

Chessboxing returns to the Scala later this year on December 14th.

 

Fulls results from “The Wild Bulls”:

Karl Ouch V Tim Woolgar: Winner, Ouch by checkmate.

Ricky Brown Vs Bryan Woon: Draw.

Shem Lopez Vs Steve Philp: Winner, Lopez by TKO.

Richard Frazer Vs Jorge Crespo: Winner, Frazer by checkmate.

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George Crespo (left) looks on as Richard Frazer wreaks destruction among the white pieces

 

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Chessboxing Film Closes On Kickstarter Target

“The King’s Discipline”  is the working title of the chessboxing documentary shot over three years by French Canadian film-maker David Bitton.

Bitton has invested his life-savings travelling tens of thousands of miles, shooting over 300 hours of footage and interviewing chessboxers from all corners of the world to bring his project to the edit room but needed to raise another $35,000 to complete the edit.

He launched a Kickstarter campaign a month ago and now with just hours left before the closing deadline he is within touching distance of the finish line with less than $1000 needed.

You can check out the hilarious promo reel from the film and find out more about the Kickstarter project by clicking on the image below.

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Kings Of The Ring, June 2013 – Results

Kings of the Ring post image

Scala, King’s Cross – 8 June 2013

 

WCBA World Heavyweight Title Eliminator

Sergio Leveque (Ita) vs Mark Pilkington (Eng)
Winner: Leveque (checkmate)

WCBA Middleweight Title Elimininator

Mike Botteley (Eng) vs Andre Glenzer (Ger)
Winner: Glenzer (checkmate)

Undercard

George Crespo vs Chris Powell
Winner: Powell (time penalty)

Matt Read vs Nick Cornish
Winner: Cornish (TKO)

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Grand Prix: Brain vs. Pain – Report
Scala, King’s Cross – 23 March 2013

Full report and photos

Scala Grand Prix Poster - 2013 Brain vs Pain

HEADLINE BOUT

 

TIM ‘CSI’ BENDFELDT (GER) v. BRYAN WOON (SIN)

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The climax of the evening featured a middleweight clash between the banker from Singapore, Bryan “Slinger” Woon and Germany’s Tim “CSI” Bendfeldt, the criminal prosecutor from Kiel in Germany. This was something of a mismatch in chess terms with Woon giving away several hundred Elo rating points to his opponent. The contest was a thriller nevertheless, with Bendfeldt surviving a prolonged series of attacks from the Singapore man before scoring a 9th round checkmate victory.

RESULT – TIM ‘CSI’ BENDFELDT, CHECKMATE, ROUND 9

Undercard

CHRIS ‘THE GENERAL’ LEVY (UK) v. MATT ‘CRAZY ARMS’ READ (UK)

Next we saw the return of Matt “Crazy Arms” Read from Welwyn Garden City, one of the UK’s most busiest chessboxers, making a much-anticipated return to the arena following an 18-month lay-off. Crazy Arms faced the redoubtable Bristolian Chris Levy (aka “The General”) in an eventful 9-round contest which went the distance with many twists and turns. In the fourth round Levy landed a powerful body blow that sent Read writhing to the canvas. The Welwyn man narrowly beat the count, then launched a ferocious attack of his own which continued after the bell, earning a severe talking to from the ref and deafening jeers from the partisan ringside crowd.

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In the final round the chess game ground to a halt by three-fold repetition leading to a automatic draw. In these circumstances the boxing points should decide the overall outcome but with the judges unable to separate the two chessboxers and with neither man willing to accept a draw, incredibly, the combatants demanded an extra round of boxing to decide the outcome. After a short conference the organisers, London Chessboxing, granted permission for an unscheduled 10th round of boxing, to the delight of the majority of the crowd who by now were solidly behind The General and baying for Read’s blood. The result, when it came was not to their liking, Crazy Arms’ long reach proved the decisive factor as he nicked the round and the match by a single point.

RESULT – MATT ‘CRAZY ARMS’ READ, POINTS

STEVE PHILIP (UK) v. JORGE CRESPO (EC)

Third on the card was a cracking novice bout between Jorge Crespo from Ecuador and “Demon” Steve Philp from Devon. The crowd was treated to a thundering contest which ended in victory for Philp by time penalty in round 7. Crespo started slowly but gradually gained confidence landing several heavy shots on his opponent who appeared to be in increasing trouble as the bout wore on. A stoppage looked on the cards with the 8th round looming but Philp held his nerve on the chessboard while the slow playing Crespo was dramatically counted out by the chess clock with just one second left in the round.

RESULT – STEVE PHILP, TIME-PENALTY

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ANDY ‘THE ROCK’ COSTELLO (UK) v. TIM WOOLGAR (UK) 

The 2013 chessboxing season kicked off in style with a superb show in front of a capacity crowd of 800 people at the Scala nightclub in central London. The opening bout featured an exhibition match between London Chessboxing founder Tim Woolgar and the UK’s number 1 heavyweight, Andy “The Rock” Costello. The two men put on a fine 7 round show ending in a close chess finish with both players under time pressure. The result was officially recorded as a no-contest.

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