PODCAST EP130: The Minotaur – CHESSBOXING NATION

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What is it like to fight a grandmaster? Find out in this episode of the chessboxing podcast with Matthew ‘The Minotaur’ Coldwell.

As the WCBA British Champion the Minotaur rightly felt obliged to take on all comers. The has watched Simon Williams on youtube for several years and he was the inspiration behind Matt’s own aggressive and spine-tingling chess game. Is there an unwillingness to take risks for some of the top players and is this born out of the knockout tournament format? You only need to lose once in a tournament to be knocked out. Matt’s is a counter style, bringing the chaos against those who try to minimise the risk and maximise their control in a game. Was chessboxing the leveller against Williams who blundered his queen, would Matt have had a chance in a straight game of chess against Simon.

Preparation for the fight included some combinations he hopped to deploy in the boxing to unsettle Simon. He was also able to take advantage of the resource call OpeningTree. He was able to use some 13,800 of Simon’s games playing black to form his strategy for the bout. Simon’s opening allowed him to play the reverse Leela Gambit meaning by move four he would be out of book, hoping that this would slow Simon down. However, Simon was able to transition onto theFrench defence. Matt didn’t want to play his usual Milner-Barry gambit which he played against David Jarmany because Simon has written a course on this line! Matt’s chess coach, Nino Khomeriki, suggested a line which they ended up playing French Defense Nimzowitsch Gambit which did slow Simon down.

Simon’s speed was unexpected and he managed to catch Matt with a speedy jab; however, Matt noticed that he wasn’t committing to every shot meaning that the threat carried was less than Matt expected. This gave him the confidence to open up and step forward to dominate the boxing rounds. Matt was landing several body shots with Simon’s high guard but the jury is still out as to whether this slowed Simon down. Matt was able to punch around Simon’s guard to achieve a knock down in the first round of boxing, Simon dropping his guard to throw an uppercut.

The clock started to concern Matt during the second chess round and Matt missed a chance to develop his knight which handed Simon a small advantage. He also missed the back rank check which would have been avoided had his knight been developed or had he moved his queen to the king side. Not only did Matt not see the back rank check, nor did Gavin, nor did commentator and WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni! When Simon played the back rank check Matt believed it was checkmate and you could see it on his face. However, there was a way out, losing his rook allowing his queen to defend the check. SHOCK, two moves later Simon blunders his queen! This handed the advantage back to Matt but could he convert?

The second round of boxing resulted in Simon breaking his nose is a dramatic and gritty performance we managed to continue despite this injury. Unbeknownst to Matt Simon had broken his nose 3 or 4 weeks ahead of the bout. Matt had his own injury, smashing his thumb whist delivering an overhand right. The pod pays tribute to how tough Simon showed himself to be, as well as his technical ability.

The issue that Matt had on the chess was Simon’s speed of calculation and his pawn centre. Although Matt identified the knight fork he didn’t want to bring back his queen and lose momentum. Ultimately this resulted in a dramatic knight fork which allowed Simon to capture Matt’s queen and ended the chess as a contest.

The pod touches on the other bouts at the event including a second round knockout crowning Dymer ‘Beast of Peace’ Agasaryan as WCBA European Heaveyweight Champion. Simon would love to fight again and would like to give Matt a shot at a rematch – ‘any time, anywhere‘ is the cry from Matt. Matt and Simon played some great chess with a pint after the show which saw Matt get a draw out of Simon.

Shout out to Wildcraft Brewery who ran the bar as well as Worstead Estate.

Season’s Beatings 24 will be on the 7th of December so follow us on social media for announcements about tickets.

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