Guest post by Bj Dina
Chess and MMA are two very different games and even finding any relevance between the two could be ridiculous to some. After all, chess tests the power of the mind while MMA tests the strength of a body. Although it sounds very interesting but how can they have anything in common? MMA chess would answer this question.
The whole game would be played in a huge chess board, as huge as one square being the size of a boxing rink. They would have positions like the queen, king, bishop, pawns, knights and the rooks. The players could move from one square to another keeping in mind the conventional rules of chess. It might sound a little geeky to you and surely, it is difficult to imagine MMA players on a chess board and even playing with the strategies of a game of chess but it is just the starting.
So, when a player while moving to another square occupies the piece of the opponent, the opponent moves out of the game? No, that is exactly where the real MMA starts. Just when a player steps into the square of the opponent team, he can only capture the piece after a one-to-one MMA match. This is where it differs from chess. In a game of chess, the player can easily capture the opponent’s square while in MMA chess it is impossible. The one, who wins the match, gets to stay in the square and it could be in favor of any of the player.
There are a group of people who feel that MMA chess is a very unfair game. Yes, it does consist of two teams with many players but every match for a position is always decided by a one-on-one match. Moreover, after the loss of a player the team can plan strategically so that a strong player of their team could fight against a weaker player of the opponent’s team. So, it is not really unfair.
There are other games too, which are an amalgamation of a combat sport and chess, like chessboxing. But this one is very different from MMA chess. It includes alternate rounds of chess and boxing among the players and it does not consist of multiple players. It consists of 11 rounds in total. If there is a stalemate in the final round of chess, then the one, who wins the boxing round, wins the match.
A game of MMA chess is very exciting for spectators. Such a game can hardly be predictable. As teams could frequently change their game plan in order to win the match, it would be fun to watch it. But to be a pro in MMA chess, the player should be equally good in both the games, i.e., MMA and chess. He has to simultaneously work on his mind and body to win such a game. The plus point of MMA chess is the huge chess board. The fight between the two opponents in chess square adds to the excitement.
MMA Pound for Pound is similar to ranking in chess.
