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“Chessboxing is a perfectly Olympic sport”

MAINTENANCE – Author and designer, Enki Bilal is the first to have thought of chessboxing. 30 years later, his dream has come true. This jack-of-all-trades has great ambitions for his sport.

At almost 71 years old, this October 7, Enki Bilal has known 1001 lives. This Frenchman, born in Belgrade, is a comic book author, painter, producer, illustrator and director, among others. In 1992, he drew the first features of chessboxing in his comic strip Cold Ecuador.

30 years later, the first inventor of this “ultimate sport” still dreams big for his discipline. At the dawn of this second edition of theIntellectual Fight Clubwhich will take place this Saturday, October 1 at Cabaret Sauvage, Enki Bilal looks back on the birth of chessboxing.

Le Figaro: Explain to us, in your own words, what chessboxing is?
Enki Bilal : This sport combines chess and boxing, over eleven rounds and alternately. It is a sport, both of great demand and of great elegance. The combination of these two disciplines makes it an ultimate sport.

How did you come up with the idea of ​​chessboxing?
This discipline was born in a story, Cold Ecuador, in which I depicted a perfect society. I was looking for a sport that was close to excellence. And I naturally thought of this combination of chess, for the intellectual quality, and boxing, for the sporting quality but above all the nobility of this sport. I create this album but for me it stops there. And ten years later, I received an email from Iepe Rubingh, whom I did not know. He is a young Dutch artist, from Amsterdam, who wanted to recreate chessboxing on a ring and pay homage to me. Quickly, I meet him and we become friends. I saw that a real sports project was set up and this is spreading all over the world, especially in Eastern Europe, but also in England, Iran, Russia and the United States. For its part, France is taking longer to discover this sport.

Paul Ducher against Kévin Guedj in 2019. French Chessboxing Federation.

You have done many things in your life in many fields (comics, television, cinema, etc.). What does chessboxing mean to you?
It’s a collateral damage of my imagination, but a very pleasant collateral damage. In addition, I realize that this sport affects all populations, including the most popular or in difficulty and it is really very pleasant to know that.

This Saturday takes place theIntellectual Fight Club 2, three years after its first edition. What are you expecting from this evening?
The previous evening was remarkable. There was both a sporting side, but above all an educational side. In the ring there is a chess master explaining what is happening to the audience. This keeps the suspense going. There is a very important dramaturgy but each fight has its own story, according to the specificities of each. It is both festive but also very dramatic.

What is your dream for chessboxing?
I would like chessboxing to continue to develop, all over the world. To fulfill the dream of Iepe Rubingh, who died in 2020, I would like it to become an Olympic sport. It would be silly to miss such a discipline. Chessboxing can offer a spectacle of a very high level. It’s really beautiful and very visual. There is a real aesthetic that can emerge from this sport. Chessboxing is a perfectly Olympic sport.

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