Full report and photos

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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