London Chessboxing in association with Run-Riot.com presents:
International Chessboxing
VIP: £50 – includes generous supply of FREE cocktails from our friends at:
The International Chessboxing season opens at the Scala King’s Cross with five scheduled bouts featuring Europe’s top chessboxers.
The headline bout features Andy ‘The Rock’ Costello, Britain’s number one heavyweight contender, versus Nikolay ‘The Siberian Express’ Sazhin. This is a rematch following Sazhin’s close victory in his hometown of Krasnoyarsk in October last year. Costello is a former top-10 UK cage-fighter while Sazhin is a veteran of over 100 bouts in the tough Russian amateur federation. Both men are highly-rated chess players in their own right.
On a packed undercard we have the UK women’s lightweight championship with Carrie Morrow facing Ruthie “The Pink Machine” Wright. Chris “The General” Levy is out for revenge against “The Bedfordshire Bull”, Mike Botteley after a narrow defeat last September. We will also see debut performances from Biggles Bristol and Max Brown both from London and making his first appearance in the chessboxing arena, Budapest’s Attila “The Hungarian” Por versus Berliner Tim Bendfeldt. With five fighters rated above 2000 Elo this is the highest quality chesboxing line-up ever assembled.
Giant digital screens plus live commentary by International Master, “The Incomparable” Malcolm Pein, means you won’t miss a move.
Sensational live cabaret performances, DJs and special guests.
Venue: Scala, 275 Pentonville Road, Kings Cross, London N1 9NL
Doors Open: 7pm
First Bout 7.45pm
Last bout starts: 10.30pm
After partyand DJs til 2AM
Tickets: £20 standard (£15 concessions). VIP £50 including Cocktails!
‘Day of Rest’… who needs it? Hone your boxing skills at the ‘Church of Pain’, a new Sunday gym session at Islington Boxing Club from 12noon to 1.30pm. Every session includes warm-up, fitness training, expert tuition in boxing technique, one-to-one training, warm-down and stretching. Prepare for a white collar bout or just train for fun. ‘The Church’ welcomes everyone!
Price just £5!
Those nice people at Time Out have chosen our comment about chessboxing as their ‘Letter of the Week’ with a bottle of Taittinger Champagne and copy of the excellent Time Out Guide as a prize. Thank you Time Out! The champagne stays on ice until September 10th when it will flow freely at the Scala nightclub. Come and join us for a glass!
Picture (by Ray Morris-Hill) shows Carl Williams (left) Vs Ben Robinson, London, March 2011
The recent chessboxing spectacle in Berlin proved to be a high-quality event and one match was featured in today’s Times Chess column penned by the doyen of British Chess, GM Raymond Keene O.B.E.
Mr Keene writes: “Chessboxing is becoming increasingly popular and a landmark was set by a recent chessboxing event in Berlin. This featured a chessboxing duel between the world’s two oldest chessboxing clubs, London and Berlin. London won by two bouts to one, to cement its place as the leading global force. One of London’s victories was this game between Tim Bendfield and Germany’s Alexander Troll….”
Raymond Keene, OBE
White: Tim Bendfield, Black: Alexander Troll, Chessboxing Berlin 2011, Kings Indian Defence
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Nf3 0-0 6 Be2 c5 7 d5 e6 8 0-0 exd5 9 exd5 Re8 10 h3 a5 11 a4 Na6 12 Re1 Bf5 13 Bf4 Qb6 14 Nh4 Bd7 15 Nb5 Bf8 16 Bd3 Rxe1+ 17 Qxe1 Re8 18 Qc3 Kg7 19 Bg5
19 g4 would create serious trouble for Black’s pinned knight. Curiously, Black’s best reply is the retrograde 19 … Kg8 as 20 Qxf6 is met by 20 … Be7 regaining the piece.
19 … Be7 20 Re1 Bd8 21 Rxe8 Bxe8 22 Bf4 Bc7
This is a blunder. 22 … Bxb5 23 axb5 Nb4 leaves White with a small advantage but now he can win by force.
23 Nxc7
The immediate 23 Bh6+ wins at once, but this capture does not spoil anything.
23 … Qxc7 24 Bh6+ Kxh6 25 Qxf6 Qd7 26 Nf5+
26 g4 would actually force a quick checkmate but by this stage it doesn’t matter.
26 … Qxf5 27 Bxf5 Black resigns
(For a report of the Bendfield V Troll bout see previous post below)
London Chessboxing is supporting the Oxjam Brick Lane Takeover this October. Oxjam Djs will perform at the Run-Riot.com London Chessboxing Championship on 10 September and during the after-party upstairs at The Scala. London Chessboxing founder Tim Woolgar says: “I’m delighted to partner with such an innovative group. Oxjam Brick Lane has some really exciting plans to raise money for a great cause and London Chessboxing is now committed to assisting their fundraising efforts. ”
Oxjam is Oxfam’s month-long music festival. But it’s a festival with a difference – it’s made up of hundreds of events which happen across the UK, throughout the month of October. And it’s all organised by volunteers who know and love their local music scene. And all raising money to fight poverty across the globe. Since 2006, Oxjam volunteers have raised £1.5 million for Oxfam’s work. In 2010, more people went to an Oxjam gig than went to Glastonbury.
Oxjam spokesperson Emily Poyser says: “The Brick lane team are a group of dynamic individuals seeking to utilise the talents of local and well known musicians/artists and DJs to raise funds for Oxfam. We personify Oxjam’s slogan of ‘local music, global impact’ and recognise that there is a rich vein of talent in East London and beyond, which we want to promote.”
Oxjam Brick lane Takeover plans
The Oxjam takeover event is the first of its kind in Brick Lane and is set to be one of the biggest this year. Taking place across 6 venues in the bustling and vibrant area of East London, it offers a diverse and eclectic festival showcasing the hottest local talent.
London Chessboxing is proud to announce a link-up with Run-Riot.com , London’s best culture and entertainment website. London Chessboxing founder Tim Woolgar said: ”The team at Run-Riot.com always know where to find the coolest new stuff and the most disgraceful parties in London! I’ve been planning my weekends around their recommendations since 2008. You have to check-in with Run-Riot.com or you won’t know what you’re missing.”
Competition!
Sign-up to Run-Riot.com today for a chance win a free taster session at the chessboxing gym plus two free tickets to the Run-Riot.com London Chessboxing Championship in September.
There’s a busy weekend of chessboxing ahead, come and visit us at the Hampstead Summer Festival on Hampstead Heath on Sunday. Play chess, have some free coaching from our senior coach Rajko Vujatovic and try your hand at a few boxing moves. From 11.30 am onwards, children welcome and it’s all completely FREE!
see page 14
If Hampstead is a bit too far north you will also find us at the Cally Carnival, in Caledonian Park on Market Street N7 where ex-professional Anthony Wright will be leading the training alongside our chess coach Kenton Doyle.
And of course, our regular training class kicks off as usual at 10 am on Saturday morning at the Islington Boxing Club on Hazellville Road.
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