Play chess or swim? What if we combined the two? This is what participants of the World Diving Chess Championship in London did this Sunday, August 14.
“I thought it would be child’s play but it’s definitely not,” said player Zarein Dolab. Trying to see the pieces, to stay down is much more difficult, especially if you play a long game, doing 30-40 moves and going down and up each time, it’s a marathon in itself”.
Making chess “cooler”
Diving chess resembles classic chess with the only difference that it is played in a swimming pool with a submerged chessboard equipped with magnetic pieces. Each player must remain in apnea while he plays his shot. When he comes back up to catch his breath, it’s his opponent’s turn to dive. A funny idea straight out of the head of a chess master, the American Etan Ilfeld, who now lives in England. He started playing chess at the age of four and began participating in tournaments at the age of 10. Combining chess with diving allowed, according to him, to incorporate a physical side to it to make chess a little “cooler”.
Ten participants competed for four hours during this unusual competition. After four rounds, it was the Polish Michal Mazurkiewicz, 33, who finally won the event by beating the South African Alain Dekker.