LCB - Battle Royale 2012

For the first time, the Royal Albert Hall welcomed chessboxing to its Loading Bay. The Royal Albert Hall Loading Bay is a stunning, underground landscape encompassing a striking and cavernous interior space, hidden from the general public for 140 years. Massive modern graffiti murals, created by some of London’s top street artists, lend a dramatic and theatrical atmosphere ideally suited to staging the sport which CBS News described as “The Bi-athlon of the 21st Century”.

Five hundred chessboxing fans last night descended on the Royal Albert Hall, for an event that could have been sold three or four times over. The first ever sports event held at the Loading Bay of the Royal Albert Hall saw city workers crammed side by side with artists, students and celebrities such as X-Factor runner-up and I’m A Celebrity winner Stacey Solomon.

The crowd were kept enthralled by fast-paced competitive boxing, hard fought chess battles projected on to giant screens and an energetic commentary from Daily Telegraph chess columnist Malcolm Pein.