Diving chess is a sport in which

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

is played underwater. It was invented by

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; and, since 2013, it has been included as one of the disciplines in the annual

Mind Sports Olympiad The Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO) is an annual international multi-sport event, multi-disciplined competition and festival for game of skill, games of mental skill and mind sports by Mind Sports Organisation. The inaugural event was held in 1997 i ...

Rules

Diving chess is played at the bottom of a

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

, using a

chessboard A chessboard is a game board used to play chess. It consists of 64 squares, 8 rows by 8 columns, on which the chess pieces are placed. It is square in shape and uses two colours of squares, one light and one dark, in a chequered pattern. During p ...

with

magnetic Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that occur through a magnetic field, which allows objects to attract or repel each other. Because both electric currents and magnetic moments of elementary particles give rise to a magnetic field, m ...

chess pieces A chess piece, or chessman, is a game piece that is placed on a chessboard to play the game of chess. It can be either White and Black in chess, white or black, and it can be one of six types: King (chess), king, Queen (chess), queen, Rook (ches ...

. The players dive underwater to observe the position and consider and play their move before they resurface to take a breath. When one player resurfaces, it is the turn of the other player to dive. Such chess games last on average one hour, where the combination of physical and intellectual performance is a challenge: to manage one's oxygen levels while making good chess moves. Players are not allowed to use any oxygen-supplying device, but they may wear diving masks or

swimming goggles Goggles, or safety glasses, are forms of protective eyewear that usually enclose or protect the area surrounding the eye in order to prevent particulates, water or chemicals from striking the eyes. They are used in chemistry laboratories and i ...

. Also, they used to be allowed to use a weight for easier sinking; however, as of 2022, no weights are allowed.

External links

* Videos of the World Dive Chess Championships i
20162018

Website Diving Chess

References

{{Chess variants, state=collapsed Chess variants