Saturday night, Cabaret Sauvage, in Paris, will be the first official chessboxing fight in France. Five rounds of three-minute English boxing interspersed with six rounds of four-minute chess, the winner of which wins by knockout or checkmate. A mental and physical discipline.
Valentin Marcel, 27, has been passionate about chess forever. This apparently calm and smiling young man first discovered boxing and then this sport. "It is often said that the chess player is the nerd, who eats too much, with glasses, who is afraid of being beaten, I have never stopped chess, I have always been sporty but here I am 've really found the sport that really pleased me, "he tells the microphone of Europe 1.
"We train to think under the stress of fatigue and lack of oxygen"
The first time Valentin Marcel took shots, he had "want to return". "I found it exciting, it was the first shots I took, I never fought in my life, it just woke me up," he says.
In a chessboxing fight, there is a chessboard. The fighters, dressed as boxers, get up, put the gloves on, and compete for their duel, before returning to another round of chess. A switch that is not inconsequential. "We are completely confused, we can not think in the same way," says Valentin Marcel. "We do express training to go down the heart rhythms, to try to think under the stress of fatigue and lack of oxygen.We must adapt, we have no choice," says the one who says he prefers " win by knockout ".
An invention of the artist Enki Bilal
The world of sports owes the chessboxing to comic book author and director Enki Bilal who invented it in his book Froid Ecuador , published in 1992. Since then, this discipline has landed in the real world. In France, there is even a federation. Its president and founder, Guillaume Salançon says: "It's been three years since we made fun of me, and I'm told: 'So do they take off gloves to play chess? take the lady, do we put a right? ' Except after three years, people do not laugh too much because they realize that it's very serious. "
For the president of the Chessboxing France Federation, this sport consists of "finding the perfect man, the perfect athlete, the perfect balance between reflection and strength". He adds, "It's the head and the legs, the healthy mind in a healthy body, the calm against the chaos, the force against the intelligence, it's the school of life."
In December, the world chessboxing championships will be held in Turkey.