After countless hours of training and preparation, a week-long journey across the world, and multiple hard-fought battles, Del Mar graduate Edward Green saw everything come to fruition as he won the silver medal in his weight class as well as helped Team USA win silver as a team at the World Championship of Chess Boxing in Serbia Sept. 21-28.
Green’s first challenge was a competitor from France who was rated nearly twice as high in chess. “Before the fight I felt like I was one of the weakest chess players there, because on paper I am,” Green said when talking about mentally preparing himself for what was to come and how the beginning of the match affected him.
“During the first chess round I was literally shaking as I moved my pieces,” Green continued, “but when it was time to box, I felt like that became more of my comfort zone.” Although feeling comfortable is a good thing, it can cause competitors to also let their guard down at times. “I was probably too relaxed because I got rocked and that woke me up.”
The initial plan for Green was to earn the win during the first round of boxing so that he didn’t have to go back to the chess board, especially after knowing that he was down a pawn when they would go back. He didn’t let it phase him when that plan didn’t work out though, as he remained calm in the second round of chess and battled through another boxing round before they entered the final round and the endgame on the chessboard.
In an ironic twist, Green went from being down a pawn to winning the game using a brilliant move with his pawn. As his opponent moved his queen in position to attack the king, Green trapped the queen in its place by pinning it in between his own queen and his opponent’s king, all while having a pawn perfectly placed to protect his queen, or in theory sacrifice his own queen to then take his opponent’s queen with his pawn.
This move would create little to no other options as Green would capture the queen and move his pawns to the end of the board, exchanging them for queens and winning the match by checkmate. This proved a big confidence booster as Green now felt he could compete on both sides at any level.
His next match was in the championship round on Serbian national television with hundreds of thousands watching, against the hometown Serbian who was again rated much higher than Green in chess.
Green said chess and boxing can both be lonely sports — contenders compete alone, and are constantly trying to read and predict their opponent and think of the best way to gain an advantage over them. This causes their mental state to run nonstop.
The other members of Team USA took time to talk with each other about their experiences with this as well as what they each sacrificed to have the time and money to compete in the World Championship of Chess Boxing.
This helped Green feel at peace with his decisions, as he knew no matter what the outcome would be, he worked for a once-in-a-lifetime experience doing what he loved with others also getting to do what they love.
Feeling confident and at peace, Green entered the championship with nothing less than gold on his mind. The match remained even throughout each round, as both competitors stood tall during the boxing matches while remaining calm and taking their time on the chess board to ensure that they did not make a mistake.
This would end up being the downfall of Green’s performance as he detailed the heartbreak ending he faced, “I was doing well on the chess board. I felt like I was winning but then I began overthinking into every move to make sure I didn’t make a mistake or give him any advantages.”
While the chess round as a whole is timed, each competitor is also timed when it is their turn to make a move. If your timer runs out before the round timer ends, then you are disqualified and this was the fate for Green as his clock hit 0:00 earning him a silver medal.
“I told them that this would be my last time competing,” Green said because of difficulties affording the trip to compete and finding enough time to put in the necessary training, “but I was told that I shouldn’t be so quick to decide because my circumstances could change.”
Green said he will remain optimistic that chess boxing can grow in America and become a more affordable and common sport to compete in so that he can continue doing what he loves.
