Well done London!

First of all let me congratulate Tim on setting up this well-organiyed event which I´m sure will help to spread chessboxing to a wider audience. And not only did he manage the organization, he actually found the time and energy to take part in one of the bouts, against me. For this I am really very grateful, because for a long time it seemed as if I wouldn´t fight at all due to a lack of opponent. I know that Tim didn´t really have the time needed to prepare for the fight properly and that given his weight advantage he could have made things way more difficult for me in the ring had he wanted to. Still he turned out a good performance both in the ring and on the chessboard, up until the final blunder which unfortunately decided the outcome of an otherwise well-played game. 

Apart from this being my first chessboxing victory, I will remember this evening for all the old and new acquaintances I met. I was happy to see Andy and Wolfram again and I regret that we weren´t able to see more of their fight, because I know that they had prepared for it meticulously. But I guess it is in the nature of chessboxing that mistakes happen often and games can end very suddenly. At the same time I was able to meet Bob and Jim who both didn´t seem to hold back anything in that first boxing round. From the very beginning I had the feeling that this fight would probably not end on the chessboard. Bob drew the shorter straw, but it felt like this one could really have gone either way. Well done to Jim. I hope I can see both these guys in future events, they were sure able to put on quite a show.

Finally I should mention all the people who helped to make the evening so memorable. So Elizabeth (to whom I am really grateful for all the help during my stay in London), Rajko, Matt and all the others to whom I unfortunately didn´t get the chance to talk much: well done!