On Nov. 15, the Pause will host a gladiatorial event combining brains and brawn: chess boxing. This unlikely meeting of an intellectual board game and violent sport has gained widespread popularity recently, and St. Olaf’s Boxing Club looks forward to bringing it back to campus.
Boxing Club has practices every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday in the former wrestling room located on the bottom floor of Skoglund Athletic Center. With a good mix of beginner and intermediate boxers, the club focuses on boxing fundamentals during the fall, such as basic punches, defense, and footwork. As members develop their skills, Boxing Club’s final event of the year is a spring sparring showcase. Titled “Physical Debate Night,” the event has been a huge hit in recent years, for both students and boxers.
“Before my fight last year, I felt like I could have flipped a car,” Cora Harpel ’26 said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger. “I had so much adrenaline. But once you get in [the ring] and start fighting, the crowd is so amazing at getting everybody hyped up.”
Harpel, one of the club’s two captains, highlighted the close-knit community of the Boxing Club.
“A lot of people are fighting their friends, which may not seem fun, but it really is,” Harpel said.
This is the first time since Harpel’s freshman year that Chess Boxing is happening on campus. As nobody in the club participated in the last iteration of the event, this weekend is a trial run to see if this can become a yearly event.
Matches will alternate between a few rounds of a chess game and then two-minute sparring rounds in the ring. Chess clocks will be set to ten minutes, meaning matches will potentially have multiple rounds of boxing. Participants will win either by checkmate or points, both in boxing and chess. Along with following the traditional points system of chess pieces captured, the club will have judges scoring the sparring rounds on aggression, ring control, and punches landed.
While a few Boxing Club members have some chess experience, many started the year as complete novices. Harpel and the club’s leadership have not taught chess during meetings, but they have strongly encouraged boxers to learn the basics.
“I’ve been heavily encouraging everyone to get on chess.com and do the lessons,” Harpel said.
Admission is free for Chess Boxing in the Pause at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15. If you’re interested in joining Boxing Club, you can contact [email protected] and follow them on Instagram @stolafboxing.
