#Festival

PODCAST EP113: ChatGPT

Subscribe: RSS

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

#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 EP112: Dina Belenkaya

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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

PODCAST EP109: Birk Ruud

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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

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!

SUBSCRIBE | NEXT LIVE STREAM 10TH DECEMBER: 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

Mogul Chessboxing Stream: @Ludwig

@Ludwigahgren Mogul Chessboxing Championship LINE UP:

Fiction vs. Kalindi
Joshman vs. Spud

@Myth_YT vs @BoyBoyProductions
@DisguisedToast vs. @PointCrow
@AbroadinJapan vs. @papaplatte
@stanz vs. @BoxBoxLoL
@SardocheLol vs. @Tophbbq

GM Aman Hambleton vs. IM Lawrence Trent

PODCAST EP108: Nicolay Ramm

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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

TV personality Nicolay Ramm is taking on an olympic gold medalist and professional sportsman, find out how he is approaching the bout.

Nicolay is a TV personality, presenter, comedian and journalist. Making a show called the Wonderful Worlds of Sports. Nicolay travels all over the world competing in the strangest sports he can find with a Norwegian celebrity and #chessboxing happens to be one of those sports. The 8 episodes this season includes sports in New Zealand, Indonesian and various places in Europe and of course London. He believes that chessboxing is the strangest sport on the list including a sport in Indonesia call fireball where they play football with a lit drinks can full of flammable liquid.

Jovanka Houska will be commentating on the show bringing another Norwegian connection. Nicolay is also fighting a fellow Norwegian, a professional sports man called Birk Ruud. Nicolay saw Birk without his shirt off whilst sparring the other day and he was intimidatingly ripped! Nicolay has a day job and his fitting his training in and around it whereas Birk has simply asked his professional team of coaches to include 2x boxing sessions every day. Nicolay is also training for all the other episodes and right now he is doing strength training, running and swimming for the world championships in ice swimming. Following the training session they had together Birk’s comment was that “Nicolay is quite slim for such an old guy!”

Nicolay has been training with Matt “Crazy Arms” Read on the chess as well as using chess engines to analyse his game. Chess is the only hope for Nicolay in the bout, or so he believes, he is focussing hard on the chess. The pod discusses other ways Nicolay can get thought he boxing rounds by using tactics like clenching rather than outboxing Birk. Nicolay’s tactics in the boxing is to stay alive! and get as much time on the chess board as much as possible.

Nicolay’s specialism is that he is tough but unskilled which fits in with his ring name. There has been some considerable thought going into the entrance and the stylist department of NRK have been working on something fun but we will have to wait to see how that looks. Both Nicolay and Birk are showmen so there is a lot of excitement about their entrances.

How has chess developed in Norway on the back of Magnus Carlsen’s success? NRK now follow chess regularly and it has become main stream. The Fisher random championship happened recently with Lawrence Trent commentating. Lawrence is fighting in LA and preparing for his fight against GM Aman Hambleton. The pod discussed Mogul Chessboxing and the likelihood of Magnus Carlsen commentating as well as the impact on chessboxing.

Nicolay will be playing chess with the Four Corner Club as well as training at Islington Boxing Gym and taking part in our production workshop with Kate Gilbert Talks.

What is Nicolay’s favourite chocolate bar?

Message for Birk is that Nicolay is a 33 year old dad, please take it easy! Nicolay is looking to get a checkmate in round 4, except that is a boxing round ?!?!! Haha

Shout outs to @nicolayramm @Birk_ruud @jovankahouska4 @davidhowellchess @fourcornerclub @kategilbert.talks @magnus_carlsen @ludwigahgren @amanhambleton @LawrenceTrentIM @Lawrence.trent @nrktrondelag

SUBSCRIBE | NEXT LIVE STREAM 10TH DECEMBER: 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

Mogul Chessboxing Stream: @Ludwig

@Ludwigahgren Mogul Chessboxing Championship LINE UP:

Fiction vs. Kalindi
Joshman vs. Spud

@Myth_YT vs @BoyBoyProductions
@DisguisedToast vs. @PointCrow
@AbroadinJapan vs. @papaplatte
@stanz vs. @BoxBoxLoL
@SardocheLol vs. @Tophbbq

GM Aman Hambleton vs. IM Lawrence Trent

PODCAST EP107: Lawrence Trent (part 2)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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

In part 2 of the Lawrence Trent interview we learn about Mogul Chessboxing, Magnus Carlson commentating on the show and an emotional exchange about Lawrence’s friend Iepe Rubingh.

If feels like Mogul Chessboxing is going to launch the sport to a new level of popularity and Lawrence believe that it is likely wold number one Magnus Carlsen will commentate on the show. Norway seems to have become a centre for chess and Chessboxing Nation have two Norwegian combatants who will be part of a main stream TV show on NRK show in 2023 with Olympic gold medalist Birk Ruud fighting. Lawrence was stopped in the sauna in Oslo and recognised as a chess commentator showing how much the sport has grown in Norway. Lawrence tells us about a night out he had with Magnus Carlsen who is now a super star in the country.

Chessboxing is in its infancy but if Mogul Chessboxing gets millions of views as it is likely to, there is no reason why the sport cannot be launched into popular culture for the first time. Boxing is experiencing incredible growth, YouTubers are brining eyeballs to chessboxing and chess itself has and is exploding. Will Chessboxing become a commercially legitimate sport?

Lawrence gives us an insight into his relationship with Iepe Rubingh and how his sudden passing effected him. He wants to help fulfil Iepe’s legacy and do justice to Iepe’s commitment to the sport. It’s hard to see how Iepe’s space in the sport could be filled and the pod talks about him as a personality and a bon vivant. The pod discussed the film By Rook or Left Hook and the first ever chessboxing fight in Amsterdam. Iepe was the glue that kept the sport together and the pod hopes that it can be brought together once again.

Will Lawrence fight again and become a serial chessboxer? He wouldn’t want to fight Simon Williams because according to Lawrence he is a “hard B*^+stard”. Carl Strugnell is a tough proposition and it may take some time for Lawrence to attain that kind of experience. He would rather fight some of the top chess player with less boxing experience, someone like Hikaru Nakamura. However, he doesn’t want to look too far ahead and focus on the fight in December.

The pod talks about the Chessboxing Paris event that Carl Strugnell fought in. Both Lawrence and Gavin were very concerned about Carl’s safety as he was hanging on for many of the boxing rounds. Will we see Ludwig in the chessboxing ring, he seems to be a young fit guy. Lawrence wonders why Ludwig is doing this event, the pod speculates that it is a way of Ludwig differentiating his event from similar youtube star boxing events.

To what extent are the other chessboxers on the card training and how much experience do they have? Will the general level of the boxing be decent or not and does that matter? There doesn’t appear to be a lot of information about the show, is this a tactic to create suspense in the youtube audience?

What is Lawrence’s favourite chocolate bar – find out. Name check for Kabaddi star Felix “Intense” Li.

How does the fear of a fight motivate one to get fit, improve diet and give up the source? Lawrence is taking everything very seriously but is looking forward to a beer in LA after the show.

Twitter @LawrenceTrentIM
Instagram: @Lawrence.trent

Mogul Chessboxing Stream: @Ludwig

@Ludwigahgren Mogul Chessboxing Championship LINE UP:

Fiction vs. Kalindi
Joshman vs. Spud

@Myth_YT vs @BoyBoyProductions
@DisguisedToast vs. @PointCrow
@AbroadinJapan vs. @papaplatte
@stanz vs. @BoxBoxLoL
@SardocheLol vs. @Tophbbq

GM Aman Hambleton vs. IM Lawrence Trent

SUBSCRIBE | NEXT LIVE STREAM 10TH DECEMBER: 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 EP106: Lawrence Trent (part 1)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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

Mogul Chess Boxing headliner Lawrence Trent on the technique of opponent GM Aman Hambleton – or lack of!

Not only has Lawrence been training but also trying to make weight and has lost 10kg – not bad for an old man. Strength and conditioning using youtube using @GervontaDavisTV and some of the Dagestani boys (@MMALEAKS) as well. At 5′ 11” and around 85kg is a much better weight for Lawrence’s frame and losing the lockdown tire is something both Lawrence and Gavin have dealt with. Mobility in the ring has improved as well, and the additional stamina that cardio provides will be crucial for the fight. Lawrence has picked up a couple of niggles including a knee injury but he’s been able to switch out his road work for swimming and cycling. With still another 6 or 7 weeks left of training Lawrence is confident that he will be in shape of the fight as well as making weight.

the pod talks about Lawrence’s chessboxing commentary career for both Chessboxing Nation and one of Iepe Rubingh’s last events in Amsterdam. Being in the ring was never on the agenda and Lawrence has never been in the ring before. Lawrence started chessboxing in the gym in Berlin in 2019 with Iepe and he’s been a fan of boxing since a child. He grew up with the #EvanderHolyfield fights and #LennoxLewis. The guys discuss Lawrence’s technique as illustrate in one of his promo videos. He has been focussing on the fundamentals of boxing with his Cuban coach (Edwardo) in Berlin. His training is based on footwork and getting the simple things right with modest self reflection.

GM Aman Hambleton is part of the youtube sensation, @chessbrah and they recently released a video showing Aman training down the gym using the heavy bag. Lawrence doesn’t believe that Aman could possibly be as bad as the technique shown in the video. Lawrence believes that he is faking his technique, it’s #fakenews, lulling him into a false sense of security. The pod talks about Jonathan Arnott and his bout as part of the Brexit Belt. However, Lawrence isn’t going to be fooled and will continue his full on training.

Chessboxing nation has a Cuban connection in referee Reinaldo Dominguez as well as a connection to Lawrence’s club Juliana Barron is fighting in London out of Chess Boxing Club Berlin.

We find out more detail about the Ludwig’s Mogul Chessboxing Championship. The fight is taking place in the Galen Centre in LA in front of 52,000 fans! Many of the fighters are mega stars on social media, youtube channel @Myth_YT has got 4.5m subscribers. Chessboxing Nation’s youtube channel has tripled in subscribers since the event was announced. Well over 10m subscribers between the combatants – huge potential.

Lawrence is hoping to train out in LA with @TonyJeffries1 a few weeks before the event and he is building his team out there. Lawrence is headlining and on last, how is he going to stay calm?

@Ludwigahgren Mogul Chessboxing Championship LINE UP:

Fiction vs. Kalindi
Joshman vs. Spud

@Myth_YT vs @BoyBoyProductions
@DisguisedToast vs. @PointCrow
@AbroadinJapan vs. @papaplatte
@stanz vs. @BoxBoxLoL
@SardocheLol vs. @Tophbbq

GM Aman Hambleton vs. IM Lawrence Trent

Interview with Jonathan Arnott ahead of The Brexit Belt fight with Toby White: https://chessboxingnation.com/podcast-ep18-jonathan-arnott/

SUBSCRIBE | NEXT LIVE STREAM 10TH DECEMBER: 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 EP105: Tommi “TNT” Mäntysalo

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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

Tommi has been working hard and supplementing his chessboxing classes with the Finnish Chessboxing Club (FCC) by training in his local boxing gym. Tommi has had experience in performance but nothing like chessboxing and he isn’t planning to upstage his opponent Toto who is know for his big introductions. Tommi is planning something but we’ll have to wait and see what he comes up with in December.

Tommi is training in Helsinki and advises the Finnish government on how to manage unemployment in the country and get people back to work. He has been taking boxing classes for 5 years and he saw a poster in his boxing gym about chessboxing. During the COVID 19 pandemic he started playing chess like many people and then he got in contact with FCC and fell in love with the sport. Tommi and Gavin reminisce about the event held in Helsinki in 2021 which was a huge success.

Tommi is aware that his chess level is considerably lower than Anthony “Toto the Robot” Bourached and he will be working hard to improve his chess as well as effect his chess by winning the boxing. Team member Otto ‘Bismark’ Vihera was able to knockout Toto within a few seconds and he will be advising Tommi on how to handle Anthony in the ring. The pod discusses how Shayan ‘Shah’ Zarein Dolab was able to land a number of overhand rights. Anthony’s defence has been found wanting so this could be Tommi’s chance to gain an edge in the bout.

Will Tommi try to play and unusual opening in order to avoid any well known lines? The pod discuss how Matt Read uses the Orangutang opening to off balance his opponent. However, Tommi is not planning to gamble on this and keep his opening solid, slow the chess down so that he can effect the bout using his boxing. Tommi wants to avoid a situation where he has lost the chess game in the first round just as Otto did before him.

Tommi’s coach Ray gave Tommi the moniker “TNT”, Tommi is hopeful that it was because he is explosive! He will also be coming out to the AC DC song T.N.T. so that he can get some energy from the crowd. However, he’s not going to perform the song himself.

Tommi has been helping Gavin with his social media work and he used to work for one of the biggest social media firms in Finland. They also talk about VR and how boxing is available on the platform as a work out. Could chessboxing ever be streamed in VR?

Are the Botez sisters stalking Tommi? They did a chess stream with them in Helsinki and they also played agains the FCC. The FCC trains every Saturday from 3pm (link under). No experience necessary other than knowing the rules of chess.

What is Tommi’s favourite chocolate bar? Tommi has a message for Anthony, “It’s not how you get into the ring it’s how you leave it that counts.” Tommi will have his hands up when he leaves the ring.

Finnish Chessboxing Club: https://www.facebook.com/shakkinyrkkeily

Botez Sister: https://www.youtube.com/c/BotezLive

SUBSCRIBE | NEXT LIVE STREAM 10TH DECEMBER: 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 EP104: Felix “Intense” Li

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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