Checkmate or knockout: The sport of chess boxing combines brains and brawn
Chess boxing, a sport testing both brains and brawn, has been steadily rising in popularity. It's been a big hit in Russia, with the U.S. now catching up, one fighter at a time.
This is an updated version of a story first published on Nov. 16, 2025. The original video can be viewed here.
When we first heard about chess boxing, we thought it was a joke. Chess boxing? Could it really be a thing? Turns out, it is, and it's just what it sounds like: alternate rounds of chess and boxing. You can win by knockout or checkmate – whichever comes first. Don't laugh – this odd couple made it to the Paris Olympics as an exhibition match. Russia is the reigning champ. But as we first reported last fall, an upstart American team swung for the medals. Still think we're kidding? Come with us to the World Chessboxing Championships in Serbia.
It's a quiet September Sunday in Loznica, a sleepy Balkan town in western Serbia. But inside the local sports arena, the bells are ringing for a different reason.
The German comes out fast, jabbing and punching. He batters his Russian rival until a roundhouse sends him down. Fighters from 18 countries are here trying to knock each other's heads off. There's the bell. But wait, now the fighters strip off their gloves and sit down – it's chess time. Competitors have three minutes to vanquish their enemy on the board. If they don't, it's back to the slugfest for three more minutes. It's gloves on, gloves off – until checkmate, knockout or judge's decision.
Bill Whitaker: When you first heard about it, did you know that it was a real sport?
Matt Thomas: No, I thought it was, like a "Saturday Night Live" skit. It was so absurd to me that someone would combine these two things.
Bill Whitaker: I have to admit when I first heard about it, I laughed. It sounds crazy.
Matt Thomas: It's the best thing about the sport. Chess is battle on a- on a board. And boxing is chess with my body. So when someone combined those two I was like, "Yes, here's my yin and yang. Here's what I was made for."
Matt Thomas: Ladies and gentleman, chess boxing fans around the world thank you for being here
Matt Thomas is a chess boxing evangelist and coach of Team USA. He's built a squad of 15 American contenders from all walks of life: there's the lawyer, a Cornell math major, a military veteran. In 2018, Thomas became the first American to compete for a world chess boxing title.
Matt Thomas: And I won. Which the person who was the most surprised about that was me.
William Graif: I had the body of a chess player. I was just like a scrawny kid, you know.
Meet William "Gambit Man" Graif, a New York State chess champ. He's been playing competitive chess since the age of five. We saw his take-no-prisoners approach when he demolished f
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