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PODCAST EP122: Birk Ruud (Repeat)

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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!

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PODCAST EP120: Nicolay Ramm (Repeat)

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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

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PODCAST EP115: Andre “Glendzman” Glenzer

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Andre joins us fresh from a sparring session where he has been training against opponents half his age in order to prepare for his fight against Shayan “Shah” Zarine Dolab. Andre will be playing with the white pieces; however, he doesn’t expect that to make a huge difference given the relative chess ratings of the combatants.

The podcast looks back at the pandemic and what that mean for training and staying fit. Getting back to a level of fitness was tough for everyone but Andre feels he is now back to pre-pandemic levels. Andre also played a few games of chess online during the pandemic with chessboxers from London.

Andre has been studying his opponent but isn’t going to be drawn into any trash talking (unfortunately)! He has been impressed with Shayan’s heart and that he in not afraid to box forward. The pod discusses Shayan’s technique and how it has changed over time. Andre has done some combat sports outside of boxing, but boxing is his passion and he has been honing his skills over many years.

Andre has fought in London twice and got as close as possible a third time but contracted Corona virus and was unable to leave his hotel room in London to fight Matt “Crazy Arms” Read in March 2020. Andre’s chessboxing career also incudes a fight with Mike “The Bedfordshire Bull” Bottley 10 years ago. Andre calls out Mike to fight again and reminisces about their fight and how good Mike was in the ring. All he could hear was his wife screaming for Andre to “hit him!” The British audience started chanting Andre’s name during the bout despite his German heritage, that’s when he knew he was in the right place.

The podcast get a little musical Easter egg from Andre half way through, I wonder what that could be?!

From the pandemic chess tournament and his chessboxing career Andre can be seen to be quite a trappy player. This is typical of his chess and how he plays in real life. Andre also plays very quickly and often his opponent will be drawn into playing too quickly and make a mistake. Shayan isn’t into his chess theory but is a savvy street player with a lot of experience in the chessboxing ring, more than Andre.

Andre lives in Essen, Germany and works as a cyber defence consultant for the public sector, a busy guy. He has seen a big spike in cyber threats since the start of the Ukraine war. Many other chessboxers work in the field of AI which is increasingly being used to secure cyber space but Andre’s advise is to focus on the simple stuff in order to stay safe.

Andre has trained with the Berlin Chess Boxing Club but he lives 4 to 5 hours away so he hasn’t been able to do that for too long. Perhaps if Andre can bring back the belt to Essen he could head up a chessboxing club there.

The podcast talks about Mogul Chessboxing and the impact on the sport or whether some of the show was even chessboxing. They speculate about the likelihood of Ludwig doing another show and whether Iepe Rubingh would have been happy to see a playstation as part of a chessboxing show. We are ready of the next show in LA and Andre is keen to fight!

Andre believes that this chessboxing fight will not end in the first round of chess especially now that there is a new rule giving the defeated chessboxer the chance to knockout their opponent in one round of boxing. Also the boxing referee will be able to give time penalties for foul play in the boxing.

Andre’s favourite chocolate bar is still Twix!

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PODCAST EP114: Matriarchal Cows

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Matthew “The Minotaur” Coldwell and the WCBA Mens Light Heavyweight Campion Richard “The Razor” Frazer.

Richard has finally achieved the retirement fight he was looking for beating Dan “The Tax Man” Mayfield is a spectacular headline bout in Christmas 2022. Richard discovered a fork on the king side which lead to a forced mate in two moves. Dan was the favourite in the chess and managed to press his advantage in the opening which Richard wasn’t expecting. Struggling to maintain a poor position it looked all over for Richard in the early stages. After a couple of boxing rounds Dan had gassed himself out and his chess level dropped, allowing Richard to come back into the match.

Who is the better chess player? Richard believes Dan is but not after two rounds of boxing which played out in the bout. Richard believed that Dan’s boxing had improved and he came out with a furious anger – did that impact on his chess game? Dan in the last podcast claimed to have “won the boxing”, referee Reinaldo giving him it on points; however, it also transpires that Reinaldo also told Richard the same. The pod discusses what Chris Eubank would have done in the same situation.

Find out how Matt is preparing to fight Dashiell “Demontime” Shaw who has a much stronger chess rating and the colour draw could be crucial to how the bout develops. Matt was sparring David Jarmany and managed to catch one of David’s overhands with his nose which promptly exploded. David is 104kg and Matt is 88kg so that additional weight may have made the different to his exploding proboscis.

London chessboxers went out to Paris the previous weekend and were lucky enough to be given tickets for Intellectual Fight Club. All the bouts were exceptionally well matched and the production was immense. Richard trained with Valentine and was impressed with his boxing. Val and Xavier were good enough to take us for beers on the Saturday after the show. Sergio La Veque was impressive as always and made short work of his opponent.

Matt sells high quality audio equipment including CD (Compact Disk) players. The equipment is expensive but worth it for your Bentley. Matt’s favourite chocolate bar is a Boost because they’re properly fifthly.

Pod talks about the women’s bout between Ruth “Insanitea” Slattery and Danlei “Pengting” Zhu. It also looks back at the amazing women’s bout in December between Marie and Juliana. Andre “Glenzman” Glenzer has already scored two wins in London, one in the first round of chess, is up against Shayan “Shah” Zarein Dolab. Gerry “The Pacemaker” Anderson from the Islington gym will be fighting Maarten “Machine” Kamerling and high quality boxing bout is expected.

Matt is questioning Dash’s fitness and Richard claims he has retired. However, he would fight Ludwig Arnhem for sure.

What does the pod think about Dan’s cow analogy?

Shout out to Matt Thomas from the US as well as Gui, Val and Xavier from the Chess Boxing Paris.

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PODCAST EP113: ChatGPT

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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.

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PODCAST EP112: Dina Belenkaya

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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

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PODCAST EP111: Killer Queen Marie

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“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

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PODCAST EP110: Kick Ass Baroness

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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!

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Mogul Chessboxing Stream: @Ludwig

@Ludwigahgren Mogul Chessboxing Championship LINE UP:

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PODCAST EP109: Birk Ruud

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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.

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

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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

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

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

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