Two competitors enter the boxing ring, lace up their gloves, and play chess? Three minutes later, the board comes up and it’s time to throw real shots at each other. This is a sporting event that confuses most, but is a dream competition for one student in Corpus Christi.

Edward Green is a 32-year-old Del Mar graduate and current student at Texas A&M University-Kingsville who has found his way into competing in one of the most niche sports in the world, chess boxing. Green will make his first appearance for Team USA during an international chess boxing tournament held in Serbia Sept. 23-28.

For the World Championship of Chess Boxing, there will be a qualifying round that consists of three rounds of chess, which are three minutes each, and two three-minute rounds of boxing played after rounds one and two of chess.

For the finals, competitors will have four rounds of chess with three rounds of boxing in between. There is a break period of one minute between each round and the first competitor to gain a checkmate or knockout on their opponent is named the winner.

The sport tests your ability to mesh your mental and physical strengths as well as test them while the other has been depleted.

“Going back to chess after that first round of boxing is tough,” Green explained. “It’s really hard to play chess while your heart rate is high, all of the blood is pumping through your heart so that makes it hard for your brain to concentrate and process things quicker.”

Green uses a mix of stationary biking while solving puzzles on his phone to help test his brain while also raising his heart rate. Another key to being successful is finding balance between the chess board and the ring so that your opponent doesn’t find your weakness and play to it.

“I have been playing chess on and off since I was 5, and I’ve been training in boxing for the past 16 years so I feel very balanced in both and hopefully that will play to my advantage,” Green said about what makes him a perfect competitor for chess boxing.

He found the sport years ago on YouTube and fell in love with it due to his enjoyment of both chess and boxing. He reached out to the Team USA chess boxing coach in 2022 about competing but got no response. Despite that, Green continued to train. That training has paid off, as Team USA got into contact and gave him the opportunity to earn his spot with a chess boxing tryout this summer in Atlanta, Georgia.

Green impressed the coach enough to earn a bout in the world championships just a few months later and become the first documented competitor to fight out of Texas in the World Championship of Chess Boxing.

Competing comes with a price though, mentally, physically, and economically. Physical is the most obvious, as any professional boxing match takes a lot of training and stamina. Green has jumped around between gyms in the Corpus Christi area, but he found a good home to practice chess boxing in Kaizen Kombat Academy at 416 N Staples Street.

Owned by professional fighter and coach David De Los Santos, Kaizen Kombat Academy is a newly opened gym to spar and learn more about fighting which makes for a great environment to improve Green’s ability. While none of these fighters play chess, Green does bring along friend and chess coach Jonathan Rios to challenge him on the chess board in between his sparring rounds so that he can simulate the competition as best as possible.

Green also meets with Rios at Neyland Public Library and Community Grocery to practice as both places set up chess boards and allow for public recreational play on the weekends. His goal is to be ready for the strongest chess opponent because players never know who they are getting matched up against until they begin. The chess board becomes mentally challenging when players are timed and fall into a disadvantage against a skilled player.

With Green being able to pack a strong punch while only weighing 125lbs, boxing could give him an advantage over competitors of similar size.

“It’s by weight class so the goal is to survive the first chess round and then go all out in the first round of boxing so that you don’t have to continue with the second round of chess,” Green said of his game plan to victory.

While Green fits the character of chess boxing, affording all that comes with competing has been much more of a challenge for him. He had to fund his own trip to Serbia that will last for over a week due to weigh-ins and other scheduled events before the competition.

Between being a student, helping with his college’s newspaper, The Texan, and training for chess boxing, there’s only so much time left in Green’s day to work and earn a living for himself much less save up to pay registration fees, traveling fees, and afford gear to compete.

Green accepts donations and sponsorships to help him afford his quest to become a World Champion Chess Boxer and can be reached though his Instagram page @unknownchessboxer.