Podcast

PODCAST EP119: Minotaur vs Demontime

SOLD OUT FOLLOW US FOR RESALE | Oktoberfist | 7th October | Watch Live Stream SUBSCRIBE HERE

Both Matt ” Minotaur” Colderwell and Dashiell “Demontime” Shaw had their first fight in March this year and Matt will be headlining on the next show, Oktoberfist 23.

Matt ” Minotaur” Colderwell has already won a massive trophy beating 72 entrance in his local chess tournament. He is hoping to add the WCBA British Heavyweight title belt to his trophy cabinet. Dashiell “Demontime” Shaw joins the pod from sunny Cornwall with a glass on red, enjoying a well earned rest after his victory over Matt in the last event.

Matt is a technician producing high-end audio equipment for the rich and famous. Dash is a civil servant in the department of leveling up. Did Demotime live up to his name, how quickly was he moving his pieces? During their chess game Matt was attacking down the king side but the break eventually came on the queen side. Matt missed a chance to bring his knight into a better position after an initial retreat. He was unable to cause Dash many practical problems and the passive nature of his play allowed Dash to move rapidly and dominate the game. You can see the whole game on the chessboxing database HERE.

In preparing for the bout Matt and Dash played each other twice resulting in a win each. Dash praises Matt’s blitz game and as someone who knows his theory. Listen hard chess nerds, the chat moves into overdrive – discussions of the
Ulvestad Variation, reverse Venco, Ruso gambit and the Benoni.

Dash doesn’t believe that the boxing impacted his chess but he did suffer from pre-bout nerves. Playing chess in the ring was a daunting prospect, but once he made it pasts his intro and off the stage his nerves melted away and he was able to focus on the chess. He even enjoyed Matt’s ring walk.

Matt appeared to be a natural showman and admits that it was the most fun part of the evening. Matt was trying to be as terrifying as possible to undermine Dashiell’s confidence but it only made him stronger, rising to the occasion in a big way. Dash’s confidence was so high in fact, we saw him doing a head wobble in the second round of boxing.

Matt’s boxing was active with good variation in what he was throwing but Dash seemed to weather the storm well. Dash was worries about Matt’s reach advantage and planned to cover up, keep a high guard and allow Matt to throw the majority of punches, counting with an overhand. Round 2; Matt started throwing more to the body, under Dash’s high guard. Matt landed a sweet uppercut resulting in a grunt from Dash following which he didn’t walk back to the correct corner. Matt was waiting for Dash to drop the ball in the chess but it never happened.

Dash did manage to give Matt a leg wobble and one point but could follow up to press his advantage. There was goading on both sides, Matt smashing his gloves together after each overhand from Dash.

It was a complete chessboxing bout, the intros were great, the chess was high level and the boxing was entertaining. Dash manages to catch the Ruth vs Danlie fight which saw them trading a lot of punches. Dash was supporting Gerry but he met his match against Maarten. Shayan went down to Andre and it was a shame it finished so quickly with quite a cheap tactic in the end. Andre was able to get a lot of activity on the board and made it very difficult for Shayan who wasn’t able to make his good start in the boxing count.

Shout out to Dele Martins who cornered Dash and is fighting on our next show on the 7th of October. Dash was also greatfull for advise from cornerman Ralph. Ray Barrow and Caz from his local boxing gym trained Matt even though they had no idea what was happening in the chess. Dash mentioned how effective their advise was given how hard he found the second round.

Matt’s favourite chocolate is Montezuma dark chocolate and also a Boost – absolute filth. No chocolate for Dash, he’s maxing out on the sea food down on Cornwall…

Subscribe to our Youtube channel and watch all the fights: https://www.youtube.com/chessboxing

Chessboxing Classes: https://chessboxingnation.com/classes

Get your tickets for our next show HERE.

#chessboxing #chess #boxing #Finland #nordicchessboxing #chessboxingnation #event #entertainment #battle #fighters #competition #fight #fitness #nolimit #motivation #training #knockout #strategy #box #boxeo #checkmate #boxfit #highlights #king #champion #winner #chessboard #chessplayer #berserker

PODCAST EP118: Maarten ‘Machine’ Kamerling

SOLD OUT FOLLOW US FOR RESALE | Oktoberfist | 7th October | Watch Live Stream SUBSCRIBE HERE

The podcast catches up with Maarten ‘Machine’ Kamerling following his victory in London in March. Is he the nicest guy in Chessboxing?

Maarten is fresh from a sketchy club in Amsterdam, showing his friends from Canada what the city has to offer. Was Maarten’s friend even more relaxed that than even him? The pods assesses whether or not Maarten is the most relaxed guy in chessboxing and how stressed Gavin was at the event in March. The fight was Maarten’s first experience of London and the first chess boxing show he has seen or been to in London even though he was made aware of chessboxing via London Chessboxing. Even thought he as the outsider from the Netherlands everyone made him feel right at home.

How do you engender a accepting and welcoming culture in a sport like chessboxing? From Tim Woolgar to a natural filter that mean only a certain type of openminded person is likely to attend a chessboxing event of session. How does Maarten see chess boxing develop in the Netherland? He is organising a fight in Amsterdam in September so watch out for information about that.

Maarten is a freelance marketeer for international businesses including handwriting robots?!! There is a huge market available for chessboxing and the pod talk about the LA and how entertaining it was. Maarten was a boxing referee for some of the bouts. Ludwig Ahgren produced the show and he was able to keep the show fast moving and engaging at all times. Matt Thomas was a commentator on the LA show and Maarten could be commentating in Amsterdam as well as possibly fighting.

What was it like to be part of the LA chess boxing production? Maarten arrived jet lagged and was shocked a seeing people doing meth on the subway! The whole show was incredible and over the top, bigger, better and more outrageous than anything else. The arena was huge, at the Galen Centre with massive screens and a huge audience on line.

The pod goes on to talk about Maarten’s fight with Gerry Anderson which is posed on www.chessboxing.info. Maarten was relaxed going into the middle game but lost his rook and was annoyed with himself not Gerry going into the boxing with an aggressive facial expression to match. There are a few other boxers who have a very angry face whilst boxing including Mark “Essex Bomb” Sidwell. Because of the chess he had to come out strong in the boxing to ensure that he got the win. Gerry is a tough guy and he’s from Glasgow, one of the toughest parts of the UK. Gerry was understandably disappointed that the fight was stopped but it seems that most people agree that it was the right decision.

The pod reminisces about Horse Attack’s outing in London where he took on accomplished chessboxer Nikita “The Razor”. Both fighter showed exceptional boxing skills, Sakari going down on the board via checkmate in the end. Maarten is fighting in Paris and looking forward to seeing Gui deliver another event. Maarten was ribbing Gui at the LA event asking if he was taking notes. Maaten may or may not be coming out to Aqua’s Barbie Girl.

Where did the chant of “Chess, chess, chess” come from? It’s now being hear at different chessboxing event and UFC apparently. Who is the Berserker and why is he like he is, come and body paint the Berserker at our next event!

CBN are back at The Dome on the 7th of October with two Norwegian celebrities including Birk Rudd, an olympic gold medalist. Birk may be more chilled than even Maarten. CBN are looking to do something with Nordic Chessboxing and planning an event in 2024.

What us Maarten’s training regime, how does he manage to maintain such a physique? Find out on the pod… also what is his favourite chocolate bar? What does Maarten like about London and Britain?

A big thank you to Maarten for fighting on the show and we hope to see him again soon.

Shout out to Matt Thomas and Nordic Chessboxing!

Subscribe to our Youtube channel and watch all the fights: https://www.youtube.com/chessboxing

Chessboxing Classes: https://chessboxingnation.com/classes

Get your tickets for our next show HERE.

PODCAST EP117: The Whole Ruth

TICKETS ON SALE | Oktoberfist | 7th October: TICKETS HERE.

This week the pod is joined by Ruth “Insanitea” Slattery and Richard “Berserker” Evans-Lacey. Originally Ruth’s ring name was going to be “Ruth, the whole Ruth and nothing but the Ruth” but it was deemed to be too much of a mouthful.

We learn how other combat sports have a ring girl but in chessboxing we have a ring piece, the Berserker! Ancient chess sets like the Lewis chessmen used to have a berserker in the position of the rook today. A berserker was a type of crack viking warrior that uses to charge into battle wearing nothing than animal firs. They would work themselves into a frenzy by consuming magic mushrooms before battle. That’s wear the word berserk comes from.

Chessboxing is a lot more intense when you are in the moment. Although it looks relatively straightforward from the outside but is a totally different experience in first person. Ruth managed to get a standing 8 count until Jack, Ruth’s coach told her to “F*$ing hit her!” Ruth was thinking about the boxing whilst playing chess which broke down her concentration. It took a while her muscle memory to kick in.

Richard was fighting Andrew “The Pawn Slayer” Smith who was a much better chess player. Andrew gives chess lessons in the training session which give an idea of the gap in ability. Richard opened with the London System in an attempt to make the chess game as boring as possible. However, Andrew managed to off-foot him with his first move.

Ruth suggested that the chess commentators should have to do a round of chessboxing so that they perhaps aren’t so damming in their comments. Although the commentators were not impressed with Richard’s chess, importantly he didn’t mess up and was able to play through to lose on time. He managed two and a half rounds of chess and two rounds of boxing which he was very pleased with. Where was Richard’s speciality hook flurry? Apparently Andrew simply moved out of the way before it could be deployed.

The pod discussed the optics of the first fight, what a great way to start the show. It is agreed that Matthew “The Minotaur” Coldwell is a total legend and loved the event, he can’t wait to fight again. His opponent Dashiell “Demontime” Shaw was nervous before the fight but clearly enjoyed himself. Richard talks candidly about his facing up to the challenge of a physical fight, something he has carried with him for several years. Richard was able to prove to himself that he can fight.

Richard and Andrew rehearsed their WWE style contretemps to set up the fight in the minds of the audience. Andrew had stolen the Berserker’s mushrooms and then provokes the fight by pouring the mushrooms on the floor.

Richard points out that Maarten “Machine” Kamerling was carrying a lot of hotness advantage – “Bloody hell, did you see his muscles!” It looks like Richard will have to get in the man-crush line behind Matt “Crazy Arms” Read. The worst thing about Maarten is that he’s not only talented and good looking but an incredibly nice guy.

The pod discusses what the different weight categories mean in terms of punching power and the dangers of boxing.

Congratulations to Andre “Glenzman” Glenzer, the new WCBA European Middleweight Champion. Commiserations to Shayan “Shah” Zarein Dolab who had the edge in the ring but wasn’t able to defend Andre’s king-side attack successfully in the chess. Andre flew to London in March 2020 only to contract covid meaning he was unable to fight. His previous fight was won in the first round of chess so it was fantastic to see him finally take to the ring. The pod also discussed a new rule change meaning that there will always be at least one round of boxing in any bout.

Will they get in the ring again? Find out at the end of the pod what the Berserker and Ruth though of the replacement berserker (Gavin). This October we will have an Olympic gold medalist fighting on the show – get your tickets!

Shout out to Kate Gilbert.

Subscribe to our Youtube channel and watch all the fights: https://www.youtube.com/chessboxing

Chessboxing Classes: https://chessboxingnation.com/classes

Get your tickets for our next show HERE.

PODCAST EP116: Danlei Zhu

TICKETS ON SALE | Oktoberfist 23 | 7th October: TICKETS HERE.

Danlei “Pengting” Zhu talks about her victory in St Patrick’s Day Bash 23.

Danlei was born in China, brought up in Bristol and living in London across the river from Gavin in Canary Wharf. The podcast was recorded just after the London marathon and Ruth, Danlei’s opponent ran the marathon the year before – road work is how she stays fit. Danlei picked up an ACL injury so she swims to keep fit and loves her “bone conduction headphones” where she can listen to music while she swims.

Danlei is a metal trader in the city including precious metals such as gold. Sadly she doesn’t own any gold but she can give you tips on when to buy. The pair discuss the Brink’s-Mat robbery and how it relates to Canary Wharf and the docklands, much of which was developed using the stolen bullion. The heist took place in the 1980 when £26 million in gold was stolen form Heathrow airport, in fact, it was so much gold that as soon as it was stolen it was worth £27 million as the markets moved once the news was out. Although some of the gold was recovered most of it was laundered by purchasing the docklands around Canary Wharf and Rotherhithe. You can watch the dramatisation here on the BBC.

Danlei heard about chess boxing via a google search before heading down to Islington Boxing Club for a training session. Somehow Danlei managed to get onto a short film which won a Louise Theroux competition. Soon enough she found herself in a chessboxing event in front of one of the best chess boxing crowds around. Danlei found the waiting and build up more nerve racking than the actual fight. Luckily she was on first, along with her mates in the audience helped to settle the nerve.

The fight itself followed a well trodden path of initially good chess, with high intensity boxing rounds taking there toll on both players. Danlei wasn’t prepared for the loud music in headphones which she found distracting. The music is played in the headphones so that neither fighter can hear the commentators. The chess was very even, slow and attritional until the middle game when Ruth contrived to get her bishop trapped going a piece down. Danlei missed a rook on pre and the time pressure resulted in the last mistake of the game when Danlei was able to back rank Ruth. You can find the entire chess game at www.chessboxing.info.

During the boxing rounds Ruth did well to weather a flurry of combinations including a repeated shovel hook from Danlei which resulted in a standing 8 count. Danlei was dropping her left hand on occasion and Ruth was able to land several overhands. Both boxers had good punch volume, could Danlei go for 3 minute rounds next time? Maybe if she holds up on the beers and the burgers.

What is Danlei’s favourite chocolate bar? She has a soft spot for Tony’s Chocolonely – shout out to Tony!

Subscribe to our Youtube channel and watch all the fights: https://www.youtube.com/chessboxing

Chessboxing Classes: https://chessboxingnation.com/classes

Get your tickets for our next show HERE.

PODCAST EP115: Andre “Glendzman” Glenzer

TICKETS ON SALE | St Patrick’s Day Bash | 25th March: TICKETS HERE

Andre joins us fresh from a sparring session where he has been training against opponents half his age in order to prepare for his fight against Shayan “Shah” Zarine Dolab. Andre will be playing with the white pieces; however, he doesn’t expect that to make a huge difference given the relative chess ratings of the combatants.

The podcast looks back at the pandemic and what that mean for training and staying fit. Getting back to a level of fitness was tough for everyone but Andre feels he is now back to pre-pandemic levels. Andre also played a few games of chess online during the pandemic with chessboxers from London.

Andre has been studying his opponent but isn’t going to be drawn into any trash talking (unfortunately)! He has been impressed with Shayan’s heart and that he in not afraid to box forward. The pod discusses Shayan’s technique and how it has changed over time. Andre has done some combat sports outside of boxing, but boxing is his passion and he has been honing his skills over many years.

Andre has fought in London twice and got as close as possible a third time but contracted Corona virus and was unable to leave his hotel room in London to fight Matt “Crazy Arms” Read in March 2020. Andre’s chessboxing career also incudes a fight with Mike “The Bedfordshire Bull” Bottley 10 years ago. Andre calls out Mike to fight again and reminisces about their fight and how good Mike was in the ring. All he could hear was his wife screaming for Andre to “hit him!” The British audience started chanting Andre’s name during the bout despite his German heritage, that’s when he knew he was in the right place.

The podcast get a little musical Easter egg from Andre half way through, I wonder what that could be?!

From the pandemic chess tournament and his chessboxing career Andre can be seen to be quite a trappy player. This is typical of his chess and how he plays in real life. Andre also plays very quickly and often his opponent will be drawn into playing too quickly and make a mistake. Shayan isn’t into his chess theory but is a savvy street player with a lot of experience in the chessboxing ring, more than Andre.

Andre lives in Essen, Germany and works as a cyber defence consultant for the public sector, a busy guy. He has seen a big spike in cyber threats since the start of the Ukraine war. Many other chessboxers work in the field of AI which is increasingly being used to secure cyber space but Andre’s advise is to focus on the simple stuff in order to stay safe.

Andre has trained with the Berlin Chess Boxing Club but he lives 4 to 5 hours away so he hasn’t been able to do that for too long. Perhaps if Andre can bring back the belt to Essen he could head up a chessboxing club there.

The podcast talks about Mogul Chessboxing and the impact on the sport or whether some of the show was even chessboxing. They speculate about the likelihood of Ludwig doing another show and whether Iepe Rubingh would have been happy to see a playstation as part of a chessboxing show. We are ready of the next show in LA and Andre is keen to fight!

Andre believes that this chessboxing fight will not end in the first round of chess especially now that there is a new rule giving the defeated chessboxer the chance to knockout their opponent in one round of boxing. Also the boxing referee will be able to give time penalties for foul play in the boxing.

Andre’s favourite chocolate bar is still Twix!

Subscribe to our Youtube channel and watch all the fights: https://www.youtube.com/chessboxing

Chessboxing Classes: https://chessboxingnation.com/classes

Get your tickets for our next show here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/chessboxing-nation-9876871498

PODCAST EP114: Matriarchal Cows

TICKETS ON SALE | St Patrick’s Day Bash | 25th March: TICKETS HERE

Matthew “The Minotaur” Coldwell and the WCBA Mens Light Heavyweight Campion Richard “The Razor” Frazer.

Richard has finally achieved the retirement fight he was looking for beating Dan “The Tax Man” Mayfield is a spectacular headline bout in Christmas 2022. Richard discovered a fork on the king side which lead to a forced mate in two moves. Dan was the favourite in the chess and managed to press his advantage in the opening which Richard wasn’t expecting. Struggling to maintain a poor position it looked all over for Richard in the early stages. After a couple of boxing rounds Dan had gassed himself out and his chess level dropped, allowing Richard to come back into the match.

Who is the better chess player? Richard believes Dan is but not after two rounds of boxing which played out in the bout. Richard believed that Dan’s boxing had improved and he came out with a furious anger – did that impact on his chess game? Dan in the last podcast claimed to have “won the boxing”, referee Reinaldo giving him it on points; however, it also transpires that Reinaldo also told Richard the same. The pod discusses what Chris Eubank would have done in the same situation.

Find out how Matt is preparing to fight Dashiell “Demontime” Shaw who has a much stronger chess rating and the colour draw could be crucial to how the bout develops. Matt was sparring David Jarmany and managed to catch one of David’s overhands with his nose which promptly exploded. David is 104kg and Matt is 88kg so that additional weight may have made the different to his exploding proboscis.

London chessboxers went out to Paris the previous weekend and were lucky enough to be given tickets for Intellectual Fight Club. All the bouts were exceptionally well matched and the production was immense. Richard trained with Valentine and was impressed with his boxing. Val and Xavier were good enough to take us for beers on the Saturday after the show. Sergio La Veque was impressive as always and made short work of his opponent.

Matt sells high quality audio equipment including CD (Compact Disk) players. The equipment is expensive but worth it for your Bentley. Matt’s favourite chocolate bar is a Boost because they’re properly fifthly.

Pod talks about the women’s bout between Ruth “Insanitea” Slattery and Danlei “Pengting” Zhu. It also looks back at the amazing women’s bout in December between Marie and Juliana. Andre “Glenzman” Glenzer has already scored two wins in London, one in the first round of chess, is up against Shayan “Shah” Zarein Dolab. Gerry “The Pacemaker” Anderson from the Islington gym will be fighting Maarten “Machine” Kamerling and high quality boxing bout is expected.

Matt is questioning Dash’s fitness and Richard claims he has retired. However, he would fight Ludwig Arnhem for sure.

What does the pod think about Dan’s cow analogy?

Shout out to Matt Thomas from the US as well as Gui, Val and Xavier from the Chess Boxing Paris.

Subscribe to our Youtube channel and watch all the fights: https://www.youtube.com/chessboxing

Chessboxing Classes: https://chessboxingnation.com/classes

Get your tickets for our next show here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/chessboxing-nation-9876871498

PODCAST EP113: ChatGPT

TICKETS ON SALE | St Patrick’s Day Bash | 25TH March: TICKETS HERE

Francesco Silvestrin‘s ring name “The Brainiac Bruiser” was created by ChatGPT. What does Dan “The Tax Man” Mayfield argue about with his Grandma at Christmas? We learn that Dan also attended the famous Allendale town whiskey tar barrels festival at new year.

Felix “Intense” Li – fears and kind at the same time. Francesco had a kebab diner with Felix after their match – yum. Francesco was boxing backwards and handled Felix well managing the distance between them despite Felix having the upper hand for most of the boxing. We also learn how the spotlight and the nerves effected his performance.

Dan’s intro song was Heaven is a Place on Earth, Max “Jocktalk” Gershfield’s entrance theme. Let’s up that Max isn’t too pissed off and wants a re-match – there can only be one fake 80s man? Arguably Dan vs Richard ‘The Razor’ Frazer was the best fight of the night with a dramatic checkmate but is there honour in chessboxing? Not according the Dan Mayfield. Once again Dan claims that our referee Reinaldo Dominguez gave him a win on boxing points. Cow chat, the pod draws parallels between matriarchal cows and The Tax Man.

Who will win chessboxer’s chessboxer? Francesco voted for Andrew ‘Komodo Dragon’ Haworth and Gavin agrees. They were both extremely impressed with his improvement ahead of his fight in May. Dan voted for Matt ‘Crazy Arms’ Read, he has done so much for chessboxing.

Headline bout between Marie ‘Killer Queen’ Obegi and Juliana ‘Kick Ass Baroness’ Baron was a fantastic fight and brutal in parts. It also included one of the best entrances from Juliana, you can see the whole fight HERE. Also discussed on the podcast is Tommi ‘TNT’ Mantysalo vs Anthony ‘Toto’ Bourached, how that fight developed as Tommi grew into the boxing rounds. Will Francesco do it again? It took a lot out of him physically, emotionally and temporally.

Will Mayfiled fight Gershfiled or would Frazer be a better match for Max in the first instance. Yet again Dan claims he beat Max on the boxing, he is undefeated in boxing apparently.

Francesco’s favourite chocolate bar is a Kinder Bueno. Dan doesn’t eat chocolate any more, just beef organs.

Subscribe to our Youtube channel and watch all the fights: https://www.youtube.com/chessboxing

Chessboxing Classes: https://chessboxingnation.com/classes

Get your tickets for our next show here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/chessboxing-nation-9876871498

PODCAST EP112: Dina Belenkaya

SUBSCRIBE | NEXT LIVE STREAM 10TH DECEMBER: www.youtube.com/chessboxing

Trash talking and smackdown chess. We catch up with Dina ahead of her showdown with Andrea Botez this Sunday in LA.

Dina on Youtube: @TheBelenkaya

Dina on Twitch: @thebelenkaya

Dina on Instagram: @dinabelenkaya

Dina on Twitter: @DinaBelenkaya

Chessboxing Classes: https://chessboxingnation.com/classes

Get your tickets for our next show here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/chessboxing-nation-9876871498

PODCAST EP111: Killer Queen Marie

SUBSCRIBE | NEXT LIVE STREAM 10TH DECEMBER: www.youtube.com/chessboxing

“Killer Queen” Marie was brought up in Paris and her family is from Lebanon. An artist, she has asked a member of her studio to draw a full sleeve temporary tattoo in order to strike fear into her opponent – Mike Tyson style.

Marie has a soft spot for Beagles and she shows an sensitive but principled side when talking about
the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

What are her tactics – knockout her opponent, simple. Marie and Gavin talk frankly about the aims of the boxing element of the sport and how it can be possible to beat a much stronger chess player if you can impose yourself in the boxing.

Beagle Freedom Project: https://bfp.org/

Marie’s Art Bio: https://ichantgallery.com/marie-obegi-biography

Chessboxing Classes: https://chessboxingnation.com/classes

Get your tickets for our next show here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/chessboxing-nation-9876871498

PODCAST EP110: Kick Ass Baroness

SUBSCRIBE | NEXT LIVE STREAM 10TH DECEMBER: www.youtube.com/chessboxing

Juliana “Kick Ass Baroness” Baron, the nicest woman in chessboxing, will be fighting “Killer Queen” Marie this December 10th for the women’s WCBA European Welterweight Title. Who will live up to their ring name?

Juliana had just come back from the world championships in Turkey the night before and still hadn’t unpacked her suitcase. She has lived in a huge number of countries and feels home anywhere, a child of the world. She speaks Korean, German, English and sings in Chineses! In Ireland she played in the Armstrong league at around 1700 but she doesn’t believe that she is at that level at the moment. She also practiced Thai Quando and kickboxing at university in Ireland, making it to the national team.

Incredibly in 2004, during a Christmas party, Juliana came up with the idea of chessboxing before hearing of the sport elsewhere. Juliana never met Iepe Rubingh but she feels a close bond with him and performed a tribute to Iepe during her first ever chess boxing bout. She has become very close to the chess boxing family in Berlin.

Juliana has trained with Lawrence Trent and she knows him from the Berlin club but they never sparred together – Lawrence is a few kg heavier than Juliana. As she is based in Munich Juliana has to travel quite far to training with other chessboxers. However, she does have a local gym she uses and also trains chess on line.

Juliana has fought in Berlin in an exhibition bout as well as in Italy and Turkey at the WCBO World Championships. The pod discussed the beautiful setting of the Italian event, warming up in a medieval castle and fighting in a period piazza. The food and wine didn’t disappoint either.

Juliana was supposed to have two fights but she missed out on the first due to a late cancellation. Her only fight was in the final of her weight category. She rarely gets a chance to fight due to the lack of women in the sport so she takes every opportunity to fight she can. The fight itself didn’t go well and she was unable to delver her game plan, Juliana was very disappointed with herself – perhaps she will do better in London. There was a lot of distractions and she wasn’t able to manage her metal state effectively – she didn’t make the planned first move. Gavin reflects on a similar situation with Jon “The Brick” Wood where he went completely off striped in the first move! Mental preparation is important to avoid mistake but also in dealing with mistakes as well. How will Juliana manage her nerves ahead of her headline bout?

Turkey wasn’t just about chess boxing, the weather was great and Juliana enjoyed hanging out with chessboxers on the beach. Nevertheless, it was hard to relax ahead of her bout which was at the end of the trip. It was good to see the chessboxing community competing together at the world championships although the preparation time for the event was very short. The pod congratulate the Turkish chess boxing contingent on their successful tournament and thanks them for all the hard work they have put in.

What has Juliana got planned for her entrance? Find out about where “Kick Ass Baroness” comes from. There is a feudal theme with the Baroness’ opponent being Killer Queen Marie. Juliana doesn’t know much about her opponent but she usually becomes friends with whoever she is matched against. She will give it all in the ring but likes to share love of the sport with her opponent after the final bell. Juliana will be entering like a Baroness but she is keeping her cards close to her chest with regard to her intro music.

What tactics is Juliana looking to deploy in her bout? She needs to find a balance for this event, something she didn’t find in Turkey. Now she is fitter she can focus on the metal elements of the sport this December. She would like to showcase the beauty of the sport as well as her ability.

Shout out to Chess Boxing Club Berlin and listen to the end of the Carl Ouch shaped easter egg!

SUBSCRIBE | NEXT LIVE STREAM 10TH DECEMBER: www.youtube.com/chessboxing

Mogul Chessboxing Stream: @Ludwig

@Ludwigahgren Mogul Chessboxing Championship LINE UP:

Chessboxing Classes: https://chessboxingnation.com/classes

Get your tickets for our next show here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/chessboxing-nation-9876871498