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Best-128

47 different countries represented.

Countries with most players qualified for Round 2:

Russia 12, Azerbaijan 11, India 9, Germany 8, USA 7, Ukraine 5, France 5, China 4, Poland 4

Meanwhile elsewhere...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZGHrzE8bqc

Iepe Rubingh was a performance artist and an athlete. He sadly passed away in 2020 but his legacy, chess-boxing, remained... Technically the idea was not his. He borrowed it from a Sci-Fi comics book Equator Cold by Enki Bilal published in 1992 and made a real sport out of it 11 years later.

Interesting fact. The movie series 'Queen's Gambit' is dedicated to Rubingh.

There is something perversely ellegant to the idea of chess-boxing. If you don't trust your intellect trust your fists. If your fists are too weak, try tu survive and let your intellect bring your opponent down later on. There are two ways to win, either to checkmate the other player or knock him out...

Best-32

Only 6 countries represented by 2 or more players:

USA 5, India 5, Russia 4, Germany 2, Ukraine 2, Poland 2

The biggest losers seem to be the hosts Azerbaijan. They had 11 players in Best-128 but only 1 of them got through to Round 4.