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Nantes

YOUNG CHESSBOXER PAWEL "BLITZ" DZIUBINSKI STANDS THE TEST.

It was 9 p.m. on a Saturday night in Nantes when more then a thousand very exicted people gathered for the first chessboxing fight ever held in France, about to "punch" off at the Utiopales Festival. The WCBO worked closely together with Cyril Cavalié, the Utiopales and the Maison d'Ailleurs.
For the WCBO, this was a great opportunity to put one of its new, and still very young, Polish chessboxers to the test.
Pawel Dziubiński entered the ring for his first-ever chessboxing fight. The 96-kg, 20-year-old is a law student from Lublin, Poland. This year he became the Polish champion in arm wrestling. He has an Elo Rating of 2006 and used to box at a younger age.

His opponent was none less then "Anti Terror" Frank Stoldt, a riot policeman from Berlin, Germany. Weighing in at 86 kg, he is one of the contenders for the Heavyweight World Championship in chessboxing. Stoldt has won 28 of his 30 boxing fights and has an estimated Elo Rating of 1900.

The demonstration fight was set for 11 rounds - 6 rounds of chess and 5 rounds of boxing. Playing white, Dziubiński played a freestyle queens gambit. As always, Stoldt played very solid. Even after the first few boxing rounds he made no or only very minor mistakes.

Dziubiński, on the other hand, had a lot more problems keeping up his chess skills. He was nervous during the boxing rounds, apparently impressed by Stoldt's moves. But he clearly showed that he has a fighter's heart and bravely fought his way through the rounds to come.

In the seventh round (chess) Stoldt clearly had gained an advantage on the chessboard, yet lost his grasp in the ninth.  "Anti Terror" had only 50 seconds on the chesstimer, when Dziubiński started to play Blitz-like. Stoldt  got carried away by the pace of the "Blitz's" moves and saw himself checkmated in seconds. You can find the game here.

As Stoldt was the better boxer and was clearly able to knock out Dziubiński at any occassion, the WCBO sees both chessboxers as winners of this demonstration fight. Stoldt will be much more effectiv in his endgame from now on and Dziubiński gained some good experience.

You can find more photos from the fight here.

Pawel "Blitz" Dziubiński will most likely fight Tihomir Tigertad Titschko, the Heavyweight European Champion, by the end of next year.