Chess Tennis
MENS ACRIS IN CORPORE SANO
Our Mission
What Makes Us Unique
Why a global association?
Chess tennis® is a hybrid activity combining the best of both sports. Because of poorly attractive set of rules, the lack of standardisation and the absence of a certified world championship, it was deemed necessary to establish the World Chess Tennis Association®. The WCTA is the supreme body responsible for chess tennis and its championships. As such, it has the exclusive right to organise the World Chess Tennis Championships and the Chess Tennis qualifying tournaments.
Purposes
The Association is created to:
- To establish the Swiss and international chess tennis federation; and
- To supervise all international chess tennis competitions
Means
To achieve its purpose, the Association may undertake specific activities, in particular the following ones:
- To lay down the rules of chess tennis,
- To manage the membership of individuals and companies as well as national and international associations,
- To establish the official players’ ranking,
- To define the provisions for the organisation of the World Chess Tennis Championship and all other qualifying competitions,
- To determine the conditions for the award of international titles, or
- To award international chess tennis titles.
All international events like the World Chess Tennis Championship are sanctioned by the WCTA.
Funding
The Association is a not-for-profit organisation which is funded by membership fees (see below), donations, sponsorship, partnerships (see Contact), public subsidies, or revenues generated by the Association’s assets.
For funding the development of the sport and its propagation worldwide, the Association will supervise the creation and distribution of a utility token. This token will steam the overall economy created around the sport, for example dedicated Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), prize money, swap, etc.
Our Motto
Mens Acris In Corpore Sano™
Passion
Our Latin motto, translated as “a lively mind in a healthy body”, expresses the idea that the combination of physical and intellectual exercise is an important, if not essential, element of mental and psychological well-being. Playing chess can benefit the human brain by increasing educational skills while playing tennis can help staying fit. The combination of chess and tennis forces the body to adapt swiftly and thus prepare both body and soul to impetus in real life.
Independence
We foster equality; thus reject any discriminatory treatment on national, political, racial, social, religious or gender grounds.
History
A Bit of Background
Roots
This biggest part of the rules of this unique game have been put together by Amaury Aubrée-Dauchez back in 2018. He started to play tennis at the Royal Smashing club as early as 1974 and in chess club in 1984. Since inception, he has connected the dots between tennis and chess. Indeed, he stopped play tennis inter-club tournaments for joining the Pion du Roi chess club located in Nivelles, Belgium. Doing so, he has discovered the very competitive nature of chess tournaments. Over several decades, he played tennis clubs in Germany (Frankfurt am Main), Italy (United Nations System Staff College in Torino, Bordighera Lawn Tennis Club 1878, British School at Rome), Belgium (Argayon in Nivelles) and Switzerland (TC Bellaria in La Tour de Peilz, Veveysan Club Tennis, TC Roc Vieux in Les Haudères, Les Iles in Sion, TC Sierre, Lens) while honing his chess technique namely bu using online platforms like Gameknot and Lichess. In 2019, he published a foundational article entitled "Is Chess Doomed by Artificial Intelligence?"; in the section "If you can’t beat them, evolve", chess tennis is suggested as an interesting form of hybridisation.
Thanks to the support and advisory of companies especially with regard to strategy, marketing and legal aspects, the World Chess Tennis Association held its constitutive assembly in December 2020. Although the Association is not required to register in the commercial register, the first General Assembly decided to register it on a voluntary basis in order to facilitate its recognition by the partners. During the c19 pandemic, all activities had to be put on hold; they resumed during the first quarter of 2022. The Association is in the course of being fully registered by 2022.
Inspiration
While chess boxing was unequivocally inspired by the French comic book artist Enki Bilal, the same rules applies in chess and boxing as individual games. Chess tennis does not blindly apply the rules of respective chess and tennis international federations with the view of making chess tennis as thrilling as possible both for players, their fans and sponsors.
Some undertakings, in particular in Germany and Austria, have recently tried to combine chess and tennis; however, their focus being for elderly people, they have been using longer timeframes and less demanding pace.
Quote
"In chess, like tennis, you get lost for a moment and the game is already mixed up. In this aspect they are two quite similar disciplines."
Carlos Alcaraz on Twitter, May 8 2022
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Membership Benefits
Overall Benefits
- Profile listed on members’ directory
- WCTA ranking for individual members
- Opportunity to join working groups
- Eligibility rights to serve as a working group officer
- Networking with all WCTA members
- Access to live-streamed events
- Receive up-to-date information on developments
- Get discount on merchandising
Benefits for Corporations / Associations
All the above plus :
- Make use of our communication channels
- Branding opportunities through sponsorship packages
- Attend and organise events
- Use WCTA member logo according to our brand guidelines in email and on website
Partners
Our Sponsors
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