Chess that takes your breath away

Press release from the German Chess Federation

Underwater chess: "Lost a kilo of weight, swallowed a litre of water"

Dive in. Make a move. Catch your breath. Dive in again. That was the format of the recent German Underwater Chess Championship, hosted by the Troisdorf Chess Club. It was great fun, everyone was thrilled," said Ewald Heck, the club's chairman, for whom this original tournament was a highlight of the club's centenary year.

Dive in. Take a step. Catch your breath. Dive in again. That was the format of the recent German Underwater Chess Championship, hosted by the Troisdorf Chess Club. It was great fun, everyone was thrilled," said Ewald Heck, the club's chairman, for whom this original tournament was a highlight of the club's centenary year.

The club organised a whole series of tournaments during its jubilee - including this underwater championship. Matthias Wolf from the public relations team of the German Chess Federation spoke to the organiser, Thomas Möws from the SK Troisdorf. The 49-year-old Möws also took part in the event and finished twelfth among the 24 brave divers. The winner was Oleg Parashchenko from the Ford-SC Düren 73, who also was the number one seed with an Elo-rating of 2136.

Greeting and Technical Meeting

Organiser Thomas Möws with T-Shirt and microphone

Mr Möws, playing chess in a swimming pool, at the bottom of the pool and not on an air mattress with a cocktail in your hand - sorry, sounds a bit crazy...

...crazy? You're the first person to say that.

Just kidding!

...But you're: it does sound crazy at first. But in the end it was a great PR success for us. And we had a lot of people watching from the lawn and even from the sauna. Even the TV was there.

How exhausting was the tournament? Is it true that you needed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation at one point?

(laughs) That's a rumour. It's not true. Although I have to say that at 110 kilos and 1.80 metres I'm no lightweight and I had a hard time fighting the power of the water, going under and up. Being heavy is more of a disadvantage there. I would say I must have lost at least a kilo in weight, although I probably just replaced fat with water, because I also swallowed a litre at the same time. In short, I was really exhausted after the five rounds.

How do you prepare for a tournament like this?

I had only practised once before, with the Troisdorf diving club, and I have to say it was really exhausting. It's like a long day's swimming, but instead of just lying in the water, you do something. Playing with the kids, swimming.

But how do you come up with, well, such an interesting idea?

An acquaintance from Austria gave me the idea. He knew it from company sports. They do a lot of things like that in Austria. I immediately thought it was a great idea. And our swimming pool, the Agguabad, was also immediately enthusiastic. They provided tea to warm up during the breaks, and there were also towels for the mothers to wrap their children in. Even though the water temperature was 26 degrees, some of the participants were shivering.

So how do you play underwater chess?

We even had a referee. Basically, the FIDE rules applied – with a few additional rules. No neoprene suit, no oxygen tank or snorkel. You were only allowed to take a breath as long as your opponent was under water. When he came up, you had to go back down.

The tournament venue

During the round

It feels a bit like correspondence chess - you never actually see your opponent at the board...

I would say that, given the time you had to think about your moves, it was more like a slow game of blitz or a fast game of rapid. I once took 40 seconds for my move, that was all the air I had in my lungs. You couldn't come up for air without having made your move. To help you stay down, there were weight belts next to the board.

How did you communicate with your opponent, who you only met on the way to or from the bottom of the pool?

There were hand signals. Showing a cross, for example, was a draw offer.

Keep your breath...

... and move quickly. No need to write down the moves.

A clearer view with diving goggles

How do the pieces and boards stay on the ground? Is there a special material for this?

We are actually considering using metal plates for a new edition. But this time we solved it differently: we glued a normal plastic sheet to a metal plate, the standard figures had magnets on the bottom. It worked well, except that the king needed a lot of glue because of his weight. Every now and then he would come loose and try to get to the surface.

And what about the next exciting tournament idea? Perhaps at lofty heights?

No, I'm just planning a normal district championship, on the floor, without water. But underwater chess has got me hooked. I definitely have to do it again next year.

A large crowd gathered around the pool to watch the spectacle. Thomas Möws congratulated the winner Oleg Parashchenko from the Ford-SC Düren 73 e. V. and presented the three winners with trophies. Jean-Pierre Fuß came 4th and was the best participant from Troisdorf.

The winner's ceremony

All participants won a medal

Final standings