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SUBSCRIBE | NEXT LIVE STREAM 10TH DECEMBER: www.youtube.com/chessboxing
This week we have the WCBA European Middleweight champion Shayan “Shah” Zarein Dolab and Felix “Intense” Li. Shayan and Felix spared in the training session earlier in the day and Shayan put Felix through his paces ahead of his bout with Francesco Silvestrin. The sparring was a focussed session for those fighting and Felix and Francesco were able to test each other in the ring. Felix claims that fighting Shayan is like trying to punch smoke. Felix talks about his Kabaddi career in the world championships on the BBC as well as his European Championship victory.
How is Felix’s chess going? Now he’s not working from home he’s finding the time to play more difficult. Shayan lets us know his tactic for his victory against Daniel Rotta, who is known for moving quickly in his chess, as well as deploying queen traps. Richard “Razor” Frazer was drawn into playing quickly and he fell for a queen trap in the first round. Shayan also focussed on keeping cool and relaxing before the bout to minimise expenditure of nervous energy. Ironically Rota blundered his queen leading to an immediate resignation from the Italian. Going into the bout Rota had a perfect record and Shayan hadn’t won a match. Is a queen knight better than a queen bishop? Simon Williams thinks so. Shayan had the edge in the boxing so a balanced chess game was fine, especially when he was able to land a number of right hands to unsettle his opponent.
Felix talks about his first ever bout with Gearoid ‘Sex Appeal’ Veale in December 2021 and how he didn’t even realise at the time that he had lost a knight in the second round of chess. The boxing was a different story, Felix realised over time that his opponent wasn’t carrying the same kind of threat as he was. Regardless Felix was on a mission in the boxing knowing that he was losing the chess. Shayan cornered for Gearoid an advised him to move in the ring and avoid going toe to toe with Felix but the bout was stopped in the 4th round with Felix wining by technical knockout.
Should Felix be looking at Francesco’s chess.com account for clues as to how to approach the chess. Shayan was given Roger’s chess.com username from one of Roger’s rivals. Roger’s 3 minute game E.L.O. was over 2000 at the time. Shayan left everything out on in the ring for the penultimate round trying to knock Roger out and his last chess round he played with his head spinning. Shayan give’s Felix a few tips on how to stay calm before the fight.
Felix is excited about the rematch between Rich Frazer vs Dan Mayfield. Richard is looking fit and has been training super hard for the fight but Dan has a natural level of fitness. Dan’s aggressive style meant that he ran out of gas in the boxing and was able to hold on to win on the board. A new rule announced, following the Finish event Reinaldo our boxing ref will be able to award time penalties in the chess for foul play in the ring. This may make slowing the boxing down more difficult for Dan should he need to. Richard’s confidence on the board was a problem in the bout – he delayed his chess moves because he thought he wasn’t able to beat Dan on the board. However, the pod agrees that Richard’s chess is at least as good as Dan’s and he should go into the fight with confidence.
Olympic gold medalist Birk “Busi Boy” Ruud will be fighting TV personality Nicolay Ramm as part of the December show. Birk is younger than at 22 years of age compared to Nicolay who is in his thirties and also has the benefit of a professional training team. The show will be show on the NRK channel in Norway in 2023. Also on the card is a female bout “Killer Queen” Marie vs Juliana “Kick Ass Baroness” Baron, the first female bout in london since 2014. Marie was unlucky to miss out last year because her opponent couldn’t travel due to COVID 19. The event is 60% sold so get your tickets ASAP.
Felix shouts out to his parents again as he did following his bout. He thinks his parents may watch the live stream. Shayan shouts out to the diving chess community and thanks them for a great evening with some interesting insights into the sport. Find out how chess diving works and what the pitfalls are.
Shout out to Ludwig and Lawrence Trent who is fighting on Ludwig’s Mogul Chessboxing Championship.
SUBSCRIBE | NEXT LIVE STREAM 10TH DECEMBER: www.youtube.com/chessboxing
FULL FIGHT:Felix “Intense” Li vs Gearoid “Sex Appeal” Veale
FULL SHOW: Shayan “Shah” Doulab vs Danielle “Dada” Rotta
Dive Chess: https://divingchess.com
Chessboxing Classes: https://chessboxingnation.com/classes
Get your tickets for our next show here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/chessboxing-nation-9876871498
