A heavyweight chess match: Arnold Schwarzenegger vs Mike Tyson

Arnold Schwarzenegger was born July 30, 1947, in Thal in Styria, Austria, and soon became a famous bodybuilder. At the age of 20 he won the title of "Mr. Universe", and later he won the "Mr. Olympia" contest no less than seven times.

In 1968 Schwarzenegger emigrated to the US and in 1983 he became an American citizen. In 1980 he completed a bachelor's degree in business administration and marketing and then started a career in film. His first film was Hercules in New York from 1970 but it was the title role in Conan the Barbarian from 1982 that made Schwarzenegger better known as an actor. Two years later, in 1984, director James Cameron gave him the title role in the hugely successful first Terminator film which made Schwarzenegger a household name all over the world.

His career as an actor was followed by an equally successful career as a politician. Schwarzenegger joined the Republican Party and was elected Governor of California in 2003. In 2006 he succeeded in being re-elected. In 2010, he had to give up the office, as California's electoral law only allows two terms for the office.

Schwarzenegger is also a great friend of chess and has promoted the game on many occasions.

The Terminator in trouble? Schwarzenegger plays chess with Garry Kasparov | Photo: G. Kasparov

Schwarzenegger is giving a simul during a sport's fair

Last year, the 73-year-old posted a funny picture on his Twitter account showing him playing chess with a donkey.

Chess with a donkey | Photo: A. Schwarzenegger

Now Schwarzenegger invited a much stronger chess partner into his home. The mixed martial arts champion Henry Cejudo and the once youngest super heavyweight world champion of all time Mike Tyson visited "Arnie" at his home in Brentwood, which is not far from Santa Monica, where the legendary Piatigorsky tournaments were held in 1963 and 1966.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's home

Mike Tyson also likes to play chess and the two heavyweights were able to fight it out on the 64 squares.

Afterwards, there was a game of miniature golf. Henry Cejudo captured the whole event in pictures and posted them on his Instagram account. As a reward, he was allowed to wield the sword from Conan, the Barbarian.

By the way, Arnold Schwarzenegger's birthplace in Thal has been converted into a Schwarzenegger Museum, and the director of this museum is the former Junior State Chess Champion and chess organiser Andrea Schmidbauer.

There is also a video of the heavyweight chess match Schwarzenegger vs Tyson:

Translation from German: Johannes Fischer

Links

• 2016 Arnold Classic Brasil: bonanza of fun (part 1)
• 2016 Arnold Classic Brasil: bonanza of fun (part 2)
• Arnold Schwarzenegger says: "Stay at home and play chess!"