The Rules of Chessball

Let the overlap of chess and basketball inspire your 2025 workout

Victor “Wemby” Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs tweeted on December 28th at 9:36 AM, “Who wants to meet me at the SW corner of Washington Square park to play chess? Im there.”

The pop up challenge got the 2023 Rookie of the Year dozens of takers, despite the horrible weather in New York City that morning. Wemby had such a great time, by the end he said, “We need an NBA players only Chess tournament, proceeds go to the charity of choice of the winner.”

Chess and basketball really is a match made in hybrid heaven.

Chessball is also my favorite new chess variant, ever since I started playing against my son and dad last summer. My first rule was to make as few rules as possible. Chess already has enough rules.

Make a basket to make a move. Move the board from the hoop depending on how much cardio you want. Layups are allowed when either player is under one or two minutes, which adds cardio.

I’ve played a bunch of opponents by now, ranging from 800 to 2400 and in a few different locations.

One recent opponent was Bernice Wambui of Kenya. It was the first time we ever met in real life, though we’d been connected since 2020. In those days of lockdown, Bernice would set her alarm for the middle of the night to make chess classes I taught, which were 7 PM in USA and 3 AM in Kenya. Since then Bernice has become a global ambassador for The Gift of Chess and Business Meets Kids & Chess, as well as one of the top young players in Kenya.

Her determination was quickly evident in chessball too. I won the first game, but she got me back in game two. I lost a ton of time in the first few moves, missing shot after shot. She also played the diabolical French Defense against me. There was no way I could break out of the closed position, and make my shots to either flag or checkmate her. GG!

Who wants to play chessball? I’m there. Because whatever 2025 throws at you, I wish you a healthy body and mind, and as much fun as you can have along the way.