INTRODUCTION
Chess is inherently a grueling game. It requires a combination of mental acuity, strength and endurance to calculate lines and find tactics over long periods of time. It’s a tough (but fun) challenge.
In recent years, chess hybrid sports have been on the rise. These hybrids are created when chess is combined with a popular sport that requires physical activity to create a new sport. They add another level of difficulty to the already difficult game of chess and are very entertaining.
The most famous example of a chess hybrid is chess boxing, a sport in which players alternate between rounds of chess and boxing. This sport has been around for some time, but recently it has started to attract serious attention.
Everyone knows about chess boxing, but what most people don’t know is that chess boxing is not the only chess hybrid form played at a professional level. In this blog, I’ll introduce you to diving chess, a fascinating hybrid sport where chess is played underwater.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
HOW IT BEGAN
Since 1997, a competition called The Mind Sports Olympiad (also known as MSO) has been held annually in England. The Olympiad brings together some of the world’s best players to compete against each other in many different challenging mind sports and disciplines. These games include poker, scrabble, speedcubing and yes, chess. It’s basically the Olympics, but for mind sports.
One of the many participants in the MSO over the years is a man named Etan Ilfeld. Etan is a man of many talents, a successful entrepreneur, and a master at pretty much every mental sport you can imagine. Most notably, he is the USCF National Champion in Chess (@knightleap), winner of the Amateur Poker World Championship at the MSO in 2010, has recently started playing backgammon and even participated in the Backgammon World Championship 2023. Due to his numerous successes in the world of mind games, Etan was hired as the main organizer of the MSO and became one of the leaders of the Mind Sports Organisation (UK).
In 2012, Etan had a brilliant idea and, as a true entrepreneur, he decided to immediately put this idea into action.
Etan’s idea was diving chess, a sport that tests brain power and lung capacity. He was fascinated by chessboxing. He liked the idea of combining physical activity with the mental activities in chess, but he felt that chessboxing was a little too much Emphasis on the physicality of boxing. He wanted a sport where chess was the main focus, but the physical aspect still made the game more difficult. And that is exactly the kind of sport he created with diving chess.
In 2013, diving chess was included in the Mind Sports Olympiad as one of the many mind sports disciplines. The Diving Chess World Championship has been held every year since then (except for the COVID-19 years) and is still on the MSO program every year.
(Courtesy of mindsportsolympiad.com)
HOW IT WORKS
A typical diving chess game is played between two people in a swimming pool. The players take turns diving underwater to examine the chess position. Once they have made their move, they resurface and then it is their opponent’s turn to immediately dive down and make a move. The game is won in the same way as a normal chess game, either by surrender or checkmate.
The physical challenge of the game is that players must stay underwater and hold their breath until they make their move, while also battling the often frigid temperature of the pool. Additionally, players usually don’t have much time to catch their breath, as the moment they make their move and resurface, their opponent will dive down and quickly react with their breath.
If a player reappears without making a move, he will receive a severe warning. If he has received multiple warnings or has no valid reason for reappearing early, he must forfeit the game.
The pools used for diving chess tournaments are usually about 1.2 to 1.5 meters deep. The boards and pieces used are weighted and magnetic so they don’t float. Players are not allowed to wear wetsuits, snorkels, weights or anything else that might help them underwater. They are only allowed to wear diving goggles and swimsuits.
There are so many levels of difficulty here, but at the end of the day you’re still playing chess and winning on the board. That’s the beauty of the game.
– Etan Ilfeld
THE BEST IN THE INDUSTRY
Every sport has its star players, and although diving chess is still a growing sport, this one is no different. Every year, there are numerous major diving chess tournaments held in Europe, with many of the world’s best players taking part. Here are some current diving chess players who have emerged as the best of the best in these tournaments.
Michal Mazurkiewicz
The winner of the last Diving Chess World Championship in August 2023 was a Pole named Michal Mazurkiewicz, who successfully defended his world championship title after also winning gold at the 2022 Diving Chess World Championship. He has established himself as the current final opponent of diving chess.
But perhaps even more impressive than Michal’s two consecutive World Championship titles in diving chess is something that happened last April, when he set a remarkable world record by completing a large-scale chess simultaneous underwater game, winning 80% or more of the games. He played diving chess against 16 people simultaneously, achieving a score of 13.5 with 12 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss (his only loss was against an International Master named Piotr Brodowski).
Michal is also an accomplished standard chess player and currently holds the title of Candidate Master with a FIDE rating of 2224. Although he has not been very active in the classical chess scene, he recently made a mini-comeback when he surprised the field and took first place at the 2024 Salento Open.
Sipke Ernst & Zyon Kollen
Another major diving chess tournament is the Dutch Diving Chess Championship, which has been held as part of the Groningen Chess Festival in the Netherlands for the past two years. The very first edition in 2022 was won by the favorite, Dutch Grandmaster Sipke Ernst, after he drew his final game against a 28-year-old FIDE Master named Zyon Kollen to secure the win. If Sipke’s name sounds familiar, it’s most likely because he was Magnus Carlsen’s opponent in Magnus’ infamous Immortal Game in 2004! However, he has made a name for himself over the years, achieving great success in standard chess and now venturing into the world of hybrid chess at the age of 45.
The second edition of the Dutch Diving Championship took place last December and it came down to a thrilling playoff match for first place between defending champion Ernst and Zyon Kollen. Zyon eventually got his revenge and prevailed in a close finish, defeating GM Ernst in the final game and taking home the 2023 Dutch Diving title. It was an impressive performance for both players. It will be interesting to see what the next chapter in the Sipke vs Zyon rivalry looks like!
Etan Ilfeld
Yes, you read that right… our good friend Etan is back on the blog. Not only did he invent diving chess, he’s also very good at it. He has consistently scored in the top three and won silver at the Diving Chess World Championships over the years. five times and won gold in 2016 and 2017. I’m not sure there’s anything Etan isn’t good at 🤷.
DIPLOMA
Diving chess is truly a uniquely brilliant hybrid sport and it was an honor to feature it in this post. I was delighted to see that there were no articles on the subject on Chess.com and knew immediately that I wanted to be the person to write one.
I hope you learned something from this blog because I definitely learned a lot while writing it. If anyone happens to know a lot about the subject and can verify my facts or provide additional information, I would love to hear from you in the comments.
That’s all for now, folks.
I hope you enjoyed this blog. Until next time! 
