Category: News

May 16 Yellobric Fundraiser – the results

Last Friday’s Yellobric chessboxing fundraiser was a grand success. In the magnificent Victorian ball room, the Chelsea Old Town Hall, we saw some impressive athletes display their chessboxing talent. Thanks to all the generous donations Yellobric also surpassed the fundraising goal and all the guests got a sensational evening in return.

Matt Read

By Justinas Vabuolas © www.fabulousimagery.co.uk

Gavin Paterson

By Justinas Vabuolas © www.fabulousimagery.co.uk

The first bout was a rematch between Matt ‘Crazy Arms’ Read and Yellobric director Gavin ‘Grievous Bodily Farmer’ Paterson. The game started relatively equal and Paterson got an good opening on the board. In the next road, it was clear that Paterson had been perfecting his jab and came out aggressively. But Read used his years of chess experience to build a big time advantage in the chess. In the ring, Paterson put on the fight of his life, cornering his tall opponent several times and landing heavy strikes. Making the first move after the bell, Paterson’s chess took a wrong turn and lost his Queen. Read quickly seized the chance and checkmated him.

Winner: Matt Read by checkmate in round 7

Toby White

By Justinas Vabuolas © www.fabulousimagery.co.uk

Karl Ouch vs Toby White

By Justinas Vabuolas © www.fabulousimagery.co.uk

Our second fight was Karl ‘The Hustler’ Ouch against Toby ‘Sloby’ White. The latter had a height advantage, whereas the former had years of experience on the board. Realising his chess disadvantage, White was feeling his way into the game but came out swinging in the boxing. While Ouch tried to duck and weave through his punches, White landed several blows. Coming out of the ring, White decided to play for time, and did not make a chess move. Ouch, tired of waiting and trying to taunt his opponent, incredibly, started to do press ups next to the table. White was clearly looking for the knock out and landed big punches to the head, but his energy was draining quickly. In the next chess round, he tried to move in blitz chess style to out-manoeuvre Ouch. But Ouch was too experienced for him and White had too little time on the clock.

Winner: Karl Ouch bu time penalty in round 7

Dymer Agasaryan

By Justinas Vabuolas © www.fabulousimagery.co.uk

Dymer Agasaryan vs Darius Gelezinis

By Justinas Vabuolas © www.fabulousimagery.co.uk

After the interval, Dymer ‘Beast Of Peace’ Agasaryan was up against Darius ‘Iron Man’ Gelezinis in an exhibition bout. Unfortunately one of the talents, Ricky Brown, was forced to withdraw after a motor accident, but in his place Gelezinis was happy to brave the chessboxing stage at the last minute. Debutant Gelezinis was several inches taller than his opponent but had less experience on the board. Agasaryan moved decisively in the chess rounds and quickly played the game in is favour. In the ring, both men showed good movement and struggled to land their jabs. Before long the match was over as Agasaryan went in for the chess end game and checkmated his opponent in round three.

Exhibition bout

James Pope

By Justinas Vabuolas © www.fabulousimagery.co.uk

George Crespo

By Justinas Vabuolas © www.fabulousimagery.co.uk

The main event was local favourite James ‘Chelsea Chainsaw’ Pope against George ‘The Bear’ Crespo. Both men were fairly evenly matched in both disciplines and the chess started with a slow pace, while both fighters made decisive moves. In the boxing Crespo’s smile taunted his opponent and Pope cornered him to land body blows. The next round, Pope started to advance and picked off more and more material of Crespo. In the boxing, Crespo used his slick movement to his advantage and dodged many of Pope’s attacks. Then on the board, Pope seized Crespo’s Queen. The latter knew he needed a knock out finish, but Pope continued his attacking stance and didn’t let Crespo anywhere near him. Crespo got in a tricky chess situation and after making an mistake, Pope swiftly moved in for a finish.

Winner: Pope by checkmate in round 7

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Come join us tonight for the sensational Yellobric fundraiser!

Want a night out you’ll never forget?

Come join London Chessboxing and Yellobric TONIGHT for a sensational evening of entertainment, chessboxing and more!

Tickets will be available at the door (cash only) and there will be food and drink all night.

The event will be held at the magnificent Chelsea Old Town Hall on King’s Road, a beautiful ballroom built by the Victorians.

Funds raised at this spectacular event will go to Yellobric, a charity which supplies reading materials to children in sub-Saharan Africa. For only £75 Yellobric can supply a whole library of books and help empower the future generations.

Doors open at 7pm, the event starts at 8pm and finished around 11pm

For more information and the line-up click here

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Haunts and hit movies at Chelsea Old Town Hall

While pictures say more than a thousand words, photographs come nowhere near to telling the whole story of the magnificent Chelsea Old Town Hall.

The beautiful Victorian hall, built in 1885, didn’t go unnoticed by some famous filmmakers. With its splendid original oil paintings, elegant marble columns magnificent chandeliers, the Chelsea Old Town Hall was used several times as a backdrop for box office hits.

 

Scroll down for a Chelsea Old Town Hall ghost story!

Juggernaut – 1974

Juggernaut

Many of the scenes on board the Britannic luxury cruiser were filmed in the corridors of the Chelsea Old Town Hall. The film’s director was Richard Lester.

Empire of the Sun – 1987

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This film by Stephen Spielberg was nominated for six Oscars and won three BAFTAs.
During the shoot, the Spielberg fell asleep in the main hall and one of the building porters actually woke him up and asked him to leave because he thought he was a rough sleeper.

 

Up The Junction – 1968

Up The Junction

A film by Peter Collinson.

 

Ghosts in Chelsea

The Chelsea Old Town Hall is clearly a special place with its rich history and impressive architecture. Some have even claimed that it is haunted. The venue manager who has worked there for over 20 years has heard and seen many strange things and peculiar incidents.

One event in particular has sparked his believe there might be something weird going on at this place. A waitress was once said to have had a conversation with an man dressed as an admiral. But the next moment he was nowhere to be seen again and seemed to have disappeared…

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Whether you fancy yourself a ghostbuster or not, do you really need another reason to come join us at Chelsea Old Town Hall on Friday May 16? How about the promise of a chessboxing spectacle raising funds for an amazing cause, Yellobric!

Get your tickets here now:

 

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Chessboxing Season Opener April 12 – Report

 

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Read (left) vs. Paterson

Matt “Crazy Arms” Read vs Gavin “Grievous Bodily Farmer” Paterson 

Kicking off the event was a fight between debutant Gavin “Grievous Bodily Farmer” Paterson and veteran Matt “Crazy Arms” Read. Starting on the board, Paterson made a highly unorthodox Catalan opening with his g-pawn, seemingly putting Read off his stride immediately and the opening was relatively equal, despite the difference in experience.

In the next round, Read used his signature long jabs and Paterson took some punishment but avoided much due to his slippery movement and quick feet – when not chessboxing Paterson plays in midfield for his local football team.

Back on the board, Paterson’s solid opening came to a breaking point when he exchanged light-square bishops, leaving his King vulnerable. He then made things worse by exchanging queens and through miscalculation, giving up a Knight in the process. In the next round Read tried to dominate with his reach but Paterson, clearly the fitter man, was able to slip inside at will and punish his taller opponent.

Round five came and Read’s experience of the club chess circuit began to tell and by the bell had established a crushing advantage. Paterson faced an impossible task under severe time pressure with just seconds remaining on his clock. Determined not to surrender without a struggle he opened Round 6 in in blitzkrieg style and managed to corner Read several times but was not able to find the KO finish he required.

Result: Read won by time penalty in round 7

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Brown (left) vs. Crespo

George “Huggy Bear” Crespo vs “Slick” Ricky Brown

The second bout of the evening was between Ecuadorian George “Huggy Bear” Crespo and “Slick” Ricky Brown from Yorkshire. Crespo, has fought in more than twice as many chessboxing bouts as Brown and also had a slight height advantage.

Once the bout got under way Crespo seemed paralysed by nerves as he allowed his opponent’s Queen to decimate his army almost single-handed. Both fighters displayed excellent boxing skills but Crespo was unable to turn the match around. The avalanche of falling pieces continued and Crespo could do undermine against Brown’s experienced ring craft.  By the fifth round Crespo’s naked King was in a hopeless position and toppled his King to avoid further punishment.

Result: Brown won by submission in round 5

 

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Richard “The Razor” Frazer vs Eduard “The Eagle” Lleshi  

After an exciting interval show supplied by the abundantly talented Hula-artiste Lisa Lottie, the evening continued with Eduard “The Eagle” Lleshi from Albania, facing Richard “The Razor” Frazer from London.

This proved to be one the most exciting contests in chessboxing history, with both contestants showing amazing resilience and courage across 11 breath taking rounds.

Starting on the board, Lleshi moved his pawns into a defensive position on only the white squares turning his side into a game of draughts – an unusual opening. Frazer who had moved his pieces in perfect harmony, saw that the black squares were left undefended and aimed his attack at this weakness.

In the ring, despite this being Lleshi’s first chessboxing appearance, he turned out to be a fierce opponent for Frazer. Hitting out hard at the start of every boxing round Lleshi gained the upper hand. However, Frazer did not panic and switched the advantage around during the latter half of the rounds despite occasional vicious outbursts by his opponent.

On the board Frazer was clearly the better player. While trying to solve the puzzle as to how to move into an end game, he gradually picked off his opponents pieces. This weakened Lleshi’s position and his King got stuck in the middle of the board.

As the bout wore on Lleshi’s powerful outbursts took their toll and his energy started to slip. Frazer cut through Lleshi’s vigorous boxing style and used his reach to good effect.

Then Frazer manoeuvred his Queen and Rooks into position to mate his opponent but just as he was about to finish the game, Lleshi’s time ran out and the bout was settled by time penalty instead.

Result: Frazer won by time penalty in round 11

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Woolgar (left) vs. White

Tim “Hippo” Woolgar  vs Toby “Slowby” White 

After a cancellation by Nick “Showstopper” Cornish, Tim “Hippo” Woolgar offered to step into the ring to fight against debutant Toby “Slowby” White from Priddy in Somerset. White drew the White pieces (conveniently!) and opened with an orthodox King’s pawn advance.  Woolgar responded with his favourite French defence.  White made an early blunder enabling Woolgar to capture a central pawn and cut through White’s defences.

In the boxing it was Woolgar who was the most defensive and he allowed White to come forward with powerful, swinging punches. Using his considerable experience Woolgar moved White around the ring absorbing attacks with a resilient defence,  only occasionally responding with a long right of his own off the back foot.

Back on the board, Woolgar managed to keep his cool and simplified the game, creating an outside passed pawn which White was powerless to block. White played for time forcing another round but leaving behind a hopeless position.

It was only a matter of time before Woolgar would produce a checkmate realising this White gave all his energy in the next boxing round and again, layered on the punches.  Woolgar’s defence held solid and in the next round finished the game efficiently. A great display of boxing by White in his debut and a brave performance from chessboxing founder Woolgar.

Result: Woolgar won by check mate in round 5

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Report: International Chessboxing – Season’s Climax December 14

By Myriam Dijck

After having one of the most exciting years in chessboxing so far, 2013 was concluded with a worthy season climax chessboxing spectacle. The crowd was as keen as ever to see some of their favourite fighters enter the ring and take on the chessboxing challenge. Here are all the highlights of the night in Scala and the blow-by-blow results.

After a swinging warm up from Count Indigo, the night kicked off with a fight between Jorge ‘Huggy Bear” Crespo and Nick ‘Showstopper” Cornish. The stats of both fighters showed a close match-up on paper, but in the fight it became clear they employed quite different tactics.

Crespo, being strong on the board, opened aggressively attacking Cornish with his rooks. The next round, in the boxing, Cornish gained the slight upper hand by landing some heavy shots and punishing Crespo with a more measured attack. Back to the chessboard, Crespo failed to cut through Cornish’ defence and started to lose valuable minutes on the clock.

Next round, Cornish managed to control the centre of the ring and while Crespo was lagging behind in the board, he wasn’t able to make up for it in the ring. In the next round of chess, Cornish upped his pace, going for the attack, but Crespo kept his defence strong, picking off his opponent’s pieces one by one. Cornish’ queen, who had been standing unused in the corner, finally came in action. Crespo was not only threatened by Cornish’ moves, he was also running out of time.

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Back in the ring, Crespo needed to go all out to secure a win, but Cornish – who was still doing the cleaner work – never looked threatened by him. Back on the board, Crespo’s time was against him. As Cornish was mounting several bold offences, Crespo’s chess became increasingly desperate with many of his pieces locked in behind a line of pawns. Crespo’s time was quickly ticking away and as his clock hit, zero he lost the bout. Winner Cornish, improved his record to 3-2. Despite showing an improved jab and some better head movement, Crespo suffered a 3rd consecutive loss and he will have to go back to the drawing board to snap his losing streak.

With only one fight under his belt and an Elo rating of 1300, Richard ‘The Razor” Frazer had much to make up for against his veteran opponent Tim “CSI” Bendfeldt. The German, with an Elo of over 2100 went into the game with a comfortable winning record of 4 wins, 2 losses.

In round one, Frazer took the upper hand. Despite Bendfeldt’s chess experience, he quickly lost two key pieces, including a bishop. In the ring, during the next round, Frazer was confidently taking the upper hand over Bendfeldt who was struggling with his footwork, getting peppered with shots and often found his back against the ropes.

Back on the board, Bendfeldt built up a comfortable time advantage to over 2 minutes. While he was building up a solid defence, it looked like he was also trying to run out Frazer’s clock. The next round, Frazer went back to maintaining the boxing edge, landing strong right hands, again pushing Bendfeldt against the ropes. Bendfeldt appeared to be playing a style of rope-a-dope, staying on the defensive, trying to avoid Frazer’s shots.

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In the following chess round, Bendfeldt quickly secured the initiative and checked Frazer’s king. Frazer desperately tried to counter Bendfeldt’s trap but Bendfeldt moved in for the final blow and check mated his opponent with one last manoeuvre. Frazer lost on the board in round 5.

After a spectacular intermezzo of entertainment with the hoola hoop girls, the night moved on to evening’s main event. Popular newcomer James “The Chelsea Chainsaw” Pope was matched up with chess virtuoso Karl “The Hustler” Ouch with twice Pope’s Elo rating. Ouch, born in France started his game with a frantic pace and forced an early check. His attack was blocked however by Pope who rapidly found himself falling behind on the clock against his opponents swift pace.

In the ring, Pope was adamant to make up for the shortcomings on the board, and opened with high volume punches. In his haste, Pope throws a shot to the back of Ouch’s head and is warned by the referee. Ouch, who is now doing the cleaner work and landing the better shots, quickly adapted to Pope’s explosive tactics. In the excitement, Pope appeared to land an illegal head but, prompting a second warning from the ref in one round.

Ouch vs Pope December 2013 Chessboxing Season Climax

Back on the board, Pope looked indecisive and was both behind in time and chess pieces. With bold attacking moves, Pope began to dominate the board, but appeared to be losing his pieces. Back to the ring, Pope started opening up with some heavy shots, forcing Ouch up the ropes. Pope was just laying on the leather, beating his opponent to the punch as Ouch tried to keep range and survive the round.

During the following chess round, both fighters looked exhausted from their fast paced boxing. Ouch was far ahead on the board, and had a significant time advantage and appeared to be running out his opponent’s clock. Pope, with all his pieces stuck in the corner managed to ward off some of Ouch’s attacks. With only 27 seconds on the clock, he just survived the round and it was clear he would be looking for a knock out to take the win.

The fighters both opened with brief exchanges and repeated clinching. The frantic pace of the last round and their aggressive styles quickly began to show on their faces, however Ouch – likely sensing victory on the board, began to open up and landed the heavier and faster shots against an exhausted Pope. The round ended, without a finish, and Pope knew he was about to lose on time. Ouch was trying for a final check mate, but it was the clock that ran out first. Ouch won by time penalty in round seven. Despite his loss, Pope made a strong debut and looked elated after his first chessboxing fight and a thrilling finale.


Overview of the results from “International Chessboxing – Season’s Climax”

George Crespo Vs Nick Cornish. Winner – Cornish, Time Penalty

Richard Frazer Vs Tim Bendfeldt – Winner: Bendfeldt, Checkmate

Karl Ouch Vs James Pope – Winner: Ouch, Checkmate

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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

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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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