Local Man to Throw Down in Turkey's World Chessboxing Championship

But first, what the heck is chessboxing?

By Ross Boissoneau | Nov. 16, 2019

It’s the same familiar story everyone knows: Youngster takes up chess, discovers he has an aptitude for it, begins to challenge older players, gets knocked down, gets back up and punches his opponent, moves rook to queens bishop four, then —



Wait a minute — punches opponent? Yes, and welcome to the brave new world of chess boxing. It is actually a thing, although it’s known by few and practiced by hardly anyone.



Meet local chessboxer Tyler “Bloodyknuckles” Booher, one of the rarities. Not only is he one of the few chessboxers in the United States, he’s hoping to go international — and is training to complete in the 2019 Chessboxing Amateur World Championship in Antalya, Turkey, Dec. 11–14.



His passion started young — and with chess. “I started playing in third grade,” he said. His interest waned in his teens, but following high school, he rediscovered his love for the game and got back into it.



Around the time, Booher also joined the Marine Corps, where he became part of a secret fight club. After leaving the service, he returned home and started cage fighting. Eventually that palled, in part because of the loss of his best friend — a professional fighter who was using performance enhancing drugs and anti-depressants, and ultimately committed suicide.

“I said, I’m done with fighting. I hated MMA,” Booher said.



He recommitted to chess. The Lansing native would study at Lansing Community College with flash cards and began playing alongside his “chess crew,” the North Crew Knights. “I had chess fever,” he said.



It wasn’t long before he heard of chessboxing, a marriage of brain-and-brawn that appealed to his past appreciation for physical fighting and his longtime love of chess.

Chessboxing has its spiritual origins in “Froid Équateur,” an obscure sci-fi graphic novel from 1992, but Dutch performance artist Iepe Rubing is credited with actually inventing the sport in 2003, as an art performance. Rubing founded the World Chess Boxing Organisation (WCBO) and the first ever Chess Boxing Club in Berlin in 2004. The WCBO now has members in China, India, Iran, Italy, Russia, Germany, Mexico, Turkey, and the U.S.



So what is it exactly?



The competition consists of 11 alternating rounds of chess and boxing — six rounds for chess and five for the fight. Each round lasts three minutes. Fighters win by knockout, by checkmate, by the judge’s decision, or if the opponent exceeds the time limit. There are four weight classes and both men’s and women’s divisions; participants must be at least 17.



When Booher got wind of the obscure sport, he was smitten. He moved to Grand Rapids before finding his way north, where the 30-year-old got a job as a cook at Interlochen Center for the Arts. That’s where he met Interlochen film student Mcguire Butz.

Like virtually everyone else, Butz was unfamiliar with the sport until he met Booher. “I had never heard of it,” said Butz, who graduated from Leland last year and is studying at Interlochen’s Motion Picture Academy.



“He came up to me because I was wearing a shirt with a camera on it. I was looking for a documentary subject, and he suggested I do [a documentary about him].” Butz recognized the unique opportunity and committed to filming a mini-documentary on the fledgling chessboxer.



Thus far Butz has filmed Booher on campus, but he intends to get some footage at Warrior Combat Academy in Traverse City, where Booher trains. He hopes to finish the five- to ten-minute mini-documentary in the next couple months and post it on Youtube. “I want to focus on his life in general, beyond the sport,” he said, though he admitted he’ll have to explain the sport as well.



Booher, meanwhile, has his sights set high. “Last year I was invited to India [one of the hotbeds of chessboxing]) to watch. This year I was invited to represent Team USA in the 145 pound division,” said Booher.



He’s hoping to give a good showing at the World Championships, assuming he’s able to get there. Each fighter needs to raise $2,000 to cover travel, competition, food, lodging, and training costs. Anyone interested in contributing can do so at Booher’s GoFundMe page.