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PODCAST EP124: Jack ‘The Reaper’ Sheard

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“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.

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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.