- Title: Dive Chess World Championships
- Date: 31st July 2018
- Summary: Story - Chess may not be the most exciting sport in the world but now a new twist to the game is making waves – Dive Chess. The Third Space Gym in Soho, London played host to the World Dive Chess Championships, now in their 6th year. The event forms part of the annual Mind Sports Olympiad; a week long festival of intellectual prowess held in London, England. Dive Chess is like normal chess but played in a swimming pool with a submerged chessboard with magnetic pieces. Each player can only think, submerged, as long as they are able to hold their breath. Once you’ve made a move and come up for air, your opponent must dive and cannot come back up until they’ve played a move, and then it’s your turn to dive again. The unusual Championships are the brainchild of American Etan Ilfeld. Ilfeld who now lives in England started playing chess when he was four and began competing in tournaments at the age of 10 and is a chess master. He came up with the idea of dive chess because he thought it would be interesting to incorporate a physical element to make chess a little more cool and quirky. The beauty of the game is that anybody who can hold his or her breath under water and is able to play chess can do it. It doesn’t matter if you’re short or tall or whatever. The magnetic board is submerged and the players dive down to make a move. Once he or she comes up then the other player dives down. Some players used leg and arm weights to help them stay submerged whilst others held a dumbbell to keep them steady. Some players had a more natural ability to control their buoyancy and looked relaxed and poised like an amphibian whilst considering their moves. Being able to take a deep breath and find a rhythm gave more experienced players a distinct advantage, as players can stay under water only as long as their breath allowed. Standard tournament chess pieces with weights inside them were used and all included a very strong magnet to cope with being submerged. What’s cool is that things actually look bigger under water so it should be easier to see the board, although it took beginners a while to adjust to this perspective. The main difficulty is controlling the breathing! Players wear goggles but they can fog up or get water inside. The tournament is over 4 rounds with each match lasting up to an hour, the average is around 30 – 40 minutes. Whilst the water was warm, players start to get cold after prolonged periods of play, so some wore wetsuits to alleviate this. Match Scoring was as follows; 1 point for a win, ½ for a draw, zero for a loss. It’s a very challenging physical event. After playing dive chess for an afternoon you are exhausted. You are mentally pushing yourself to the limit and, physically your body tires with the effort of controlling the breathing. Most players can hold their breath for over a minute. Between rounds, players take a hot shower or even a quick sauna to warm up. There are several different strategies, some players immediately play a move and come back up while your opponent is still catching their breath so put pressure on them as the opponent has to go right back down. After 4 long rounds of intense competition a winner emerged. Rajko Vujatovic sealed his victory in the final round after beating James Heppell. Rajko ended the championship with 3 ½ points and was delighted to take the World Championship title. Result: Winner Rajko Vujatovic score was 3 ½ points over 4 rounds, just ½ point from his nearest rival.
- Description:SHOT LIST Competitors looking a chess board and magnetic Chess pieces on the board No diving sign Players putting pieces on the board Competitor putting board under water Only female participant putting on goggles Go pro – underwater shot of board being placed on bottom Competitors shake hands to start a match Overhead shot of game in action Eventual winner Rajko Vujatovic playing - overhead shot Wide shot of players in pool Go Pro Etan Ilfeld playing UPSOT ENGLISH – COMPETITOR and Founder Etan Ilfeld Go Pro Nicolas Varley Playing UPSOT ENGLISH COMPETITOR - Nicolas Varley UNDERWATER shots action UPSOT ENGLISH COMPETITOR – Mike Harris More action shots showing players submerging Overhead shot of Winner Rajko Vujatovic playing Etan Iifeld More action shots featuring Rajko Final round game Rajko Vujatovic shaking hands with James Heppell Shot of them discussing moves in last game UPSOT ENGLISH - Winner – Rajko Vujatovic
- Collection: Hot Under The Collar
- Producer:HUTC
- Transmission Date:01/08/2018
- Decade: 2010s