Underwater Chess in Cape Town: How Grandmasters Play While Holding Their Breath

According to glavcom.ua: In Cape Town, as part of the Grand Slam Freestyle Chess festival, a unique exhibition event took place where chess matches were held underwater. According to the rules of this unconventional game, players had to dive to make a move, holding their breath at a depth of 1.1 meters. This format was invented in 2012 by Ethan Ilfeld, the founder of the Mind Sports Olympiad.

Grandmaster Hans Niemann became the tournament winner, defeating Fabiano Caruana in the finals. In the match for third place, Javokhir Sindarov emerged victorious. After this, Niemann also triumphed in a match against the former world champion of underwater chess, Michal Mazurkiewicz, who was present as a consultant.

A Unique Face-off

“I was shouting about Dani's concerning issues, and his 'friends' only cared about covering it up.”

This tournament served as preparation for the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Final, which will take place from December 8 to 11 at the V&A Waterfront in Grutbus, South Africa. Ukrainian chess player Kramnik left prophetic words about the death of a chess player of Ukrainian descent on social media, sparking a wave of discussion.

The underwater chess competition in Cape Town attracted the attention of chess enthusiasts with its unconventionality and extremity. This new format of the game may well open up new horizons for chess and attract more participants and viewers. Further development of this idea and possible future underwater chess tournaments in other parts of the world can be expected.