We’re delighted to announce that this year’s Diving Chess World Championship will take place at Leonardo Royal Hotel, London Tower Bridge, 45 Prescot Street E18GP starting at 9 pm on Sunday, August 14. We expect the event to finish by 1 am. The pool at Leonardo Royal Hotel has a depth of 1.2m. No weights will be allowed for this year’s WC. Registration will open in a few days alongside general registration for MSO 2022. Must be 18 or over to participate.

If you’re looking for a new and challenging past time then Diving Chess might be for you. Diving Chess is like normal chess but played in a swimming pool with a submerged, weighted and magnetised chessboard and pieces. Each player can only think as long as they are able to hold their breath. Once they’ve made a move they can come up for air, then their opponent must dive and cannot come back up until they’ve played a move, else forfeit the game. Diving really changes the game strategy. Sometimes, you’ll want to play moves really fast so that your opponent doesn’t have an opportunity to catch their breath.