#chess boxing

PODCAST EP130: The Minotaur

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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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Simon Williams Fight Analysis

Fight Analysis With Simon Williams

Simon ‘Wildman’ Williams and Gavin ‘Grievous Bodily Farmer’ Paterson take you through Simon’s epic bout with Matthew ‘Minautor’ Coldwell, move by move, blow by blow. A broken nose, a queen blunder and epic knight fork – find out from Simon himself what it’s like to be a chessboxer. Watch the full video HERE.

The undercard for Simon’s headline fight features a technical knockout, a 19 year old debutant and Mr Beef. Subscribe and find the full stream on our YouTube channel HERE!

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PODCAST EP129: Trevor ‘Mr Beef’ Onyango⁠

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CHESSBOXING FESTIVAL – Watch Simon Williams fight for the WCBA British Heavyweight Title this July: https://rb.gy/qtmd4h

This week’s podcast features the effervescent Trevor ‘Mr Beef’ Onyango⁠. Let’s talk about beef baby, all kinds of beef including that between Trevor and his opponent Andrew ‘ThePawnSlayer’ Smith.

Why is he called Mr Beef, it’s not that complicated. Trevor is looking forward to some beef after training, Saturday morning at Islington Boxing Club. He has been doing a lot of sparring and getting in touch with his body ahead of the Chessboxing Festival on the 5th & 6th of July. Trevor is looking forward to the ‘vibes’ on the farm as he understands there will be some Wagyu beef.

Trevor works in a law centre and loves taking on dastardly landlord, he is the right place with many a landlord in the chessboxing cohort. There is nothing Trevor likes nothing more than bullying a landlord, he doesn’t eat beef at work but he does love creating beef with landlords.

What is Mr Beef’s top beef; beef ribs, burgers or steak – it’s a close call. Trevor’s intro song is called ‘Mr Beef’ by Ed Montana, he hopes to arrive on horse back to the bout. He is also looking forward to the Dele vs Dymer fight – two great fighters. He doesn’t think Simon Williams has much of a chance against Matt Coldwell – you can find out on the 6th of July!

Shout out to Homero who is flying out from Sao Paulo a long with someone from the US, it will truly be an international event.

Find out which chocolate bar is the best for Mr Beef?

Andrew’s message for Mr Beer was ‘or is it Mr Chicken?!!?!?!!!’ Find out what Mr Beef has to say about that!

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PODCAST EP128: The Pawn Slayer

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CHESSBOXING FESTIVAL – Watch Simon Williams fight for the WCBA British Heavyweight Title this July: https://rb.gy/qtmd4h

Andrew is a national instructor for FIDE and teaches the under 9s in Hertfordshire. One of his prodigies is only 7 years old competing in the terra-final, he entered at only 6, playing in the under 9s. He can’t quite beat Andrew yet!

Andrew trains with Nick Cornish, legendary chessboxer who goes to the same club as Andrew. He is putting Andrew through is paces including sparring with Gerard ‘Ripper’ Reilly.

Andrew is fighting Trevor ‘Mr Beef’ Onyango who has been working hard and has already made weight. Andrew’s ELO is 1850, slightly better than Trevor but comparable whereas his fight with the Berserker was more one-sided on the chess. However, the Berserker was much more dangerous on the boxing and he tried to stay out of range and rely on his chess. He didn’t want to get caught by the Berserker rolling hook combination. He’s going to deploy the same tactics against Mr Beef. How did Andrew become the ‘Pawn Slayer’ and what does that mean for Mr Beef.

Norfolk is one of the sunniest parts of the UK and the chessboxing will be in a traditional Norfolk brick barn. There is also a chance to play Grandmaster Simon Williams at the festival. Andrew is in the same weight category, comment if you’d like to see Andrew take him on!

The pod discusses who will win out in the headline bout and how Matt Coldwell manage to obtain the title in his fight with David ‘Northern Powerhouse’ Jarmany. Also, Shayan ‘Shah’ Zarein Dolab vs Aaron Kollner, a recent fight in Cologne bringing the WCBO Middleweight title back to the UK for the first time.

What is Andrew’s favourite chocolate bar? And his message for Mr Beer, or is it Mr Chicken?!!?!?!!!

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PODCAST EP127: Martin Neu

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CHESSBOXING FESTIVAL – Watch Simon Williams fights for the WCBA British Heavyweight Title this July: https://rb.gy/qtmd4h

Martin was heavily involved in a chessboxing show in Cologne, Germany a couple of weeks earlier as the arbiter of what was a very successful event. Shout out to Denno and his team who put on a great show which saw Shayan ‘Shah’ Zarein Dolab we the WCBO middleweight title.

Martin is only 19 and has just completed his exams in Germany – time to celebrate! When he finishes his exams he hopes to study sport in Cologne. Luna is Martin’s cat, a British short hair, nice. He also runs marathons so he is super fit. His ELO is around 2000, he is a mobile technical and fit boxer just like his opponent Oliver and it will be the first time for Martin in the UK with his brother and cornerman. Unfortunately, Marin had to get a visa, don’t mention the ‘B’ word!

Magnus Carlsen was lucky enough to meet Martin a few months ago at a freestyle chess 960 chess tournament where they demonstrated chessboxing. He lost against Caruana but was able to have a long chat with him over dinner. Chessboxing is already opening doors for Matin who has his sights set on being a chessboxing champion.

Martin believe that social media is the route to making chessboxing a mainstream sport. Can you communicate the excitement of chessboxing in a live stream? Martin make the astute point that they are different experiences, similar to watching football on the TV or in a stadium are different.

Should out to Matt Thomas the The Big Greek as well as the Ginger GM

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@TheBigGreek @movingwithmat @GingerGM @ChessboxingCologne

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PODCAST EP126: Dymer Agasaryan

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CHESSBOXING FESTIVAL – Watch Simon Williams fights for the WCBA British Heavyweight Title this July: https://rb.gy/qtmd4h

If you’re watching this on YouTube you’ll be treated to seeing Dymer topless, apparently he wasn’t aware that he was going to be on video as well as audio!

Dymer is fresh from a Latvian chessboxing event, a hard fight but he now has more victories than the great Carl Ouch – evidenced by the chessboxing database. Carl was in ‘The Last KO’ and Gavin discusses the film with Dymer who provides a cameo in the film. The film showcases the contrast between Carl’s home life in Wales, his chessboxing retreat in Serbia and his fight in Paris.

Dymer has a month to prepare for his fight with Dele Martins. Dele has had one fight against Yordan Yordanov, Gavin and Dymer were expecting a technical fight, it actually turned out to be a very aggressive performance from Martins to unsettle Yordanov. Marins has an impressive physique, but can he bench more than Dymer – set you expectations to ‘MACHO”!!!!

Magic! That’s right Dymer is a magician, he is planning to do some for his ring entrance. His corner man is also a magician – how can we possibly wait for it! Dymer has achieved everything he wanted to do in power lifting, lifting at elite level in 4 different weight categories. His last event he benched 225kg – that is 3x Gavin.

Dymer started his carrier in 2012, 12 years ago – he is a chessboxing veteran with 12 fights. His favourite fight was his first fight, winning a title belt. His second fight was dramatic for other reasons. The organiser of the event Andy Costello was ringing the bell early for the chess rounds because his fighter was losing on the chess.

The pod discussed the Fury Usyk fight, Dymer loves both personalities and cannot wait for the rematch. Fury was lucky not to get counted out, it was a clear victory for Usyk.

Dymer has the strongest punch in Chessboxing according to the punch strength arcade machine at the Helsinki event 2 years ago. Will there be a machine at the festival? The old team will be back together for the festival including the godfather of chessboxing Tim Woolgar and ‘historical’ chessboxer Matt Read.

Dele should be careful, Dymer might eat him apparently.

Image by James Bartosik

Shout out to Carl Strugnal, Rasel Alam, Wildcraft Brewery, Tim Woolgar, Sina Kraus, Matt Read

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PODCAST EP125: Simon ‘Ginger GM’ Williams

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CHESSBOXING FESTIVAL – Watch Simon Williams fights for the WCBA British Heavyweight Title this July: https://rb.gy/qtmd4h

CBN catches up with Grandmaster Simon Williams about his upcoming chessboxing fight with Matt ‘Minotaur’ Coldwell.

For the second time on a podcast Gavin is ripped for zooming with an empty trophy cabinet in the background. If you want to hear his podcast with Gethin Jones head over to Average Sports Club. Maybe it’s because all of Gavin’s belts simply don’t fit into the cabinet.

Simon is calling from Godalming, a picturesque Hobbit style village just outside London. Simon isn’t able to run due to a dodgy knee so he is swimming for fitness. His pal Aldo is putting him through his paces, plus some one-on-one training by the village bandstand. He has also been doing some sparring in a local Mai Thai gym where he upset a facially tattooed female fighter who stormed out of the club.

Simon got into combat sports after watching Karate Kid in the 90s, has done some semi-contact kickboxing but chessboxing is the first time he has taken on a full contact bout. Chess-wise, Simon is a well known personality in the sport and has made a career out of chess, becoming a grandmaster when he was 28 years old. He is one of only a handful of GMs active in the UK and has been British speed chess and rapid chess champion. Outside his playing career he is a popular YouTuber going under the name of ‘Ginger GM’, you can take a look at his channel HERE.

Simon became famous (at least on Wikipedia!) when playing the Hammershlag opening in the British Chess Championships in 1999 as a nineteen year old. He took a bet the night before whilst drinking in the night club ‘Quids Inn’ that he would open with the Hammershlag, one of the worst possible openings available. Incredibly Simon went on to win the game despite that fact his opponent knew about the bet and had prepared for the opening. Could it be as disrespectful as Karl Ouch doing press ups in the ring?

Find out what Simon thinks of his opponent Matt Coldwell? The pod contrasts Matt’s bout against Dashiell Shaw as compared to David Jarmany. Simon is giving nothing away when he says that he expects Matt to avoid playing chess and come at him in the boxing. Will Matt throw in some wildcard moves to off balance the chess with the hope of avoiding an attritional game?

Simon isn’t the first grandmaster to compete in chessboxing, two years ago GM Ahman Hamilton took on IM Lawrence Trent in LA, winning by technical knockout. Simon has worked with both chess players and is also good friends with Lawrence. The pod reflects on how the bout went and the surprising result. You can listen to an interview with IM Lawrence Trent in episode 106 of this podcast.

Will Simon be fighting under the moniker ‘Ginger GM’ or will he re-invent himself for the fight? Also, find out Simon’s favourite chocolate bar – one of the best answers we’ve had on the podcast!

Image by Pawel Gawronski

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PODCAST EP124: Jack ‘The Reaper’ Sheard

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OFFICIAL CHESSBOXING MERCHANDISE | Get you official chessboxing merch for Christmas HERE!

“Like Geoffrey Dama squeezing a fish in the corner of the ring”, that is how cool Jack was under pressure during Oktoberfist 23. The podcast catches up with academic Jack Sheard after his victory agains Oliver Ye.

Negligence in cricket, Jack is re-training as a solicitor. If you hit a dinger what happens if you damage someone’s property or hit someone? Other life choices include how and why Jack purchased a cape. Where better than to wear the cape along with his fantastic moustache.

Jack wanted to play a safe opening and this allowed him to feel his way into the chess. On the boxing however Jack felt Oliver was nervous and therefore came out aggressively in the boxing and hold the centre. Jack’s dominance slipped in the first round with a slip of his feet leaving him on the canvas. Jack’s high guard worked well, Oliver for some reason seemed reticent to go to the body until the last round of boxing. Jack’s stance reminded Matthew Coldwell of a secretary bird with his high guard and upright body position.

Jack’s discovered attack gave him a bishop advantage following a queen exchange. Then it looked like Oliver had allowed Jack to trap his rook behind Jack’s pawn structure but an inspired bishop cover allowed Ye to trade rooks with a bishop fork rather than go a rook down.

Jack volunteers with chess in prisons and this is how Jack discovered chessboxing while working with chessboxing legend Matt Read. Chess in prisons is a charity that teaches chess to inmate and Jack was able to put together a team from prison to compete in the International Prison Chess Competition. Many of those involved in this charitable venture where at the event to support Jack and Matt – you can support chess in schools and communities HERE.

The second round of boxing saw jack move into the boxing with confidence knowing that he as a piece up; however, Ye had other ideas and came out guns blazing for the first 30 second which seemed to jack like an eternity. Shout and tributes to Ollie who never stopped fighting even though he was a piece down which he eventually recovered in the end game. Jack was a little careless, although arguably Ollie’s boxing performance lead to Jack’s blunder losing his bishop and the advantage than went with it. Oliver pushed Jack all the way and eventually went down by checkmate.

The pod reflects on bout 3 with Dele Martins celebrating his check mate too early – what showman. The highlight of the show was the final bout, heavyweight – the word was that it was a foregone conclusion but Matt Coldwell had other ideas.

A big thank you and shout out to Jake Cutting who described Jack as, “Like Geoffrey Dama squeezing a fish in the corner of the ring” – he was so calm. Shout out to Taylor for her support during the bout as well as everyone at Chessboxing Nation.

Christmas drinks on the 2nd of December at The Shaftesbury Tavern at 3pm. 20% discount off our merch with this LINK.

Image by Pawel Gawronski

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PODCAST EP123: The Minotaur

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On the podcast this week we have the WCBA British Heavyweight Champion Matthew ‘The Minotaur’ Coldwell and chessboxing legend Matt “Crazy Arms” Read looking back at Oktoberfist 23.

Bout 4, Nicolay ‘Pawn Star’ Ramm vs Birk ‘Busi Boy’ Ruud will be featured on NRK, national Norwegian TV next year and the pod discuss this show and the format. Graham Norton meets Top Gear meets Takeshi’s Castle. You can watch the episodes of The Wonderful World of Sport on the NRK website One of the shows included drinking 4 pints while running a mile, fireball football and pea shooting. Nicolay believed that chessboxing wasn’t not only the weirdest sport he has done but also the best.

Oktoberfist had everything you could want in a chessboxing event. Matt’s bout had a sing-a-long intro and the drama of the final chess round checkmate. Pete equipping himself very well for his first bout, Matt’s ribs took a pounding. Second bout was very tasty with a huge volume of punches and Jack’s secretary bird technique. Neither fighter taking a step back during the bout and Oliver showing some great boxing and brining the fight to Jack once he went down on the chess. Dele is a born showman with a sculpted body to match. Yordan climbed Kilimanjaro as part of his training and was recovering from altitude sickness to make the fight. Yordan managed to weather a hook which resulted in him biting through his mouthguard and the chess was impacted considerably by action in the ring. What about the pre-celebration celebration, make sure you take a look at the clip on youtube.

Bout 4 saw Birk deliver a backflip mid-boxing round, but nothing could compare to the last bout however when the heavyweights went to war. Matthew had never played David at chess but the first time they spared David exploded his nose and left him on the canvas. Matthew calls out commentator Matt Lunn over his criticism during Matthew’s opening. David’s tactics were to come out of the blocks in the first boxing round all guns blazing, a strange tactic considering his much higher chess rating. The tactic was high risk and perhaps it was a result of his position after the first chess round which was poor. Matt weathered the storm well and maintained his technical boxing style even though he was put through the ropes.

Matthew was trying to show David that he wasn’t shaken and the pod discusses the mind games played between the two competitors. In the ring Matthew took a standing 8 count, the image of this podcast shows this moment. However, in the chess Matthew has his bishops pointing at David’s king, doubled rooks and looking good on the board. David then had a standing 8 count, both fighters looking exhausted before the drama of the next chess round when David sacked a porn to then deliver a devastating knight fork turning the tables. Having lost his advantage on the board Matthew enters back into the ring to face David again, both fighters in the centre of the ring trading blows. Eventually Matthew broke through landing a flurry of blows and David had nothing left to give before the towel came in.

Shout out to Nicolay, Birk, Victoria and Nils from NRK.

Image by Pawel Gawronski

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PODCAST EP122: Birk Ruud (Repeat)

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

Olympic gold medalist Birk Ruud will be taking on TV personality Nicolay Ramm this Christmas as part of the NRK TV production Wonderful Worlds of Sports.

We catch up with Birk on his training camp in Austria on Stubaier Gletscher preparing for the FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup the following week. He is training everyday for the World Cup and for his chess game and his professional training team has also included boxing in his regime. He is able to enjoy the chess on tour because he is playing in person with his best mate.

Birk is a professional freestyle skier and he won an Olympic gold medal in the first ever big air competition in the olympics. For his first trick he arrived at the jump switch (backwards) and performed a triple cork 1440 (5.5 rotations) with mute grab. How does Birk know when to release his hold and land his jump? It’s a combination of muscle memory and air awareness. He started working on his air awareness when he was only 3 years old.

Birk was able to spar with his opponent Nicolay Ramm under the tutelage of Emil “Valhalla” Meek. Meek was able to teach the basics of boxing and they even got a chance to spar with Meek. Birk was surprised at how technical boxing was but he feels that he had an advantage, his father and brother taught him some technique when he was younger.

Birk is about 10 years younger that Nicolay but he thinks it will come down to the chess. He believes that it will be hard for either of them to achieve a knockout given they aren’t experienced boxers but Gavin points out that is can and regularly does happen. When they played chess against each other he felt under a lot of pressure and Nicolay came out on top over a number of games.

Birk has a mental coach that he uses depending on how he is feeling coming into a competition. He is also into mindfulness and he finds the mental challenge of chess difficult but absorbing. Discussion moves onto tactics and how Birk can make boxing advantage impact the chess rounds. Birk will play a safe opening and move slowly to make sure he gets as many boxing rounds as possible. Toby White is known for a late flurry in the boxing round to try to unbalance his opponent ahead of the next chess round – will Birk use the same tactic.

Birk’s ring name is “Busi Boy” because he is a busy guy! It’s a mantra and reflects how Birk lives his life, taking every opportunity possible. NRK TV channel is making a costume for both Birk and Nicolay but he is going to try and be himself. The entrance is a chance to get into the head of your opponent, will Birk try to intimidate Nicolay with his entrance?

Birk knows that Nicolay is nervous for the match, confident in the chess but nervous for the boxing which has given Birk a boost. Nicolay is probably more fit that he is letting on because he is training for all the other episodes of the show.

What is Birk’s favourite chocolate bar is Kvikk Lunsj!