The 2025 World Diving Chess Championships took place in Groningen, the Netherlands, a one-of-a-kind competition that combines chess and scuba diving. Players do not face each other sitting in front of a traditional chessboard, but repeatedly dive underwater to make their moves, holding their breath each time. Every decision must be made in apnea, before resurfacing to breathe and prepare for the next round. A challenge that requires mental clarity, physical resistance and absolute control of the nerves.
Underwater chess: how the discipline works
Diving chess is a hybrid sport that combines strategic calculation and physical endurance. The games are played with weighted pieces and magnetic chessboards, designed to remain stable even on the bottom of a swimming pool. Players, equipped with masks and fins, dive one at a time to complete a move in a single breath. Cold water, reduced visibility and foggy goggles make every choice more complex, transforming the game into an extreme test of concentration. Here time is not only marked by the clock, but also by the oxygen in the lungs.
The triumph of Zyon Kollen
The absolute protagonist of the 2025 edition was Zyon Kollen, Dutch FIDE master, who won the men’s world title for the first time. Coming into the final round with a perfect score, Kollen managed his lead intelligently, quickly closing with a decisive draw. Also on the podium were Jurrian de Graaf, second place, and Michel Timmer, third. The tournament, the most attended ever, saw a great variety of profiles: young promises, chess veterans and athletes accustomed to underwater disciplines.
The women’s title and a growing community
Alongside the open tournament, the women’s world title was also awarded, won by 17-year-old Josephine Damen, also Dutch, who was the best of the players competing. His victory confirms the growing openness of the discipline to new generations and an increasingly wider audience. There were participants of very different ages in the competition, from ten-year-olds to expert players, a sign of an expanding international community.
A visionary idea that became a global sport
Diving chess was created by the American master Etan Ilfeld, who transformed an eccentric idea into a discipline recognized and practiced worldwide. Today this sport represents a successful experiment in contamination between different worlds: mind and body, logic and resistance, underwater silence and competitive tension.
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