60 Minutes Bookends Team USA Chessboxing’s Inflection Point and Tryout Tour Across America
This weekend, I arrived in Kavala, Greece primed and ready for Team USA Chessboxing’s Fight Camp in preparation for the 2026 World Championship.
This morning, I woke up to hundreds of messages and a couple thousand new followers, which isn’t a normal thing for me. In fact, it’s only happened a few times in my life, and one of those times was in November 2025 when 60 Minutes debuted their story on Chessboxing.
That segment was the inflection point for Chessboxing’s growth in our country. It planted the seeds for the Team USA Tryout Tour because it created a heat map of hundreds of prospective chessboxers in major cities across our country who wanted to start clubs, begin a new hobby, or test their mettle against the other American warriors of brain and brawn.
So, we rode the wave.
Starting in New York, I travelled to Miami, Las Vegas, Austin, Charlotte, and Atlanta to host tryouts and launch new clubs with weekly trainings to grow a grassroots movement for our sport while stacking our team with new talent to take on Russia and the rest of the world.
It was one of the best, and busiest, seasons of my life. I am so grateful for everyone who was a part of it, and I am endeared by the response to it, which is only amplified by last night…
I rolled out of bed and into an echo of 60 Minutes incited messages from friends, fighters, and strangers. The timing can’t be better (or more unexpected).
After a text to 60 Minutes’ producer to thank her and ask what happened, I pinged the team and started writing this post.
This week is the start of the next season of Team USA Chessboxing. Prospective fighters will be uploading their stories and fundraising campaigns on our team page here.
Some of our most talented titled chess players and defending world champions will be flying to Greece to participate in the Kavala Open Chess Tournament then stay for a fight camp that will become an annual event. It’s a perfect place for it:
- Hilly and hot for natural road work and weight cuts
- Clean, healthy food for good fuel and lean protein
- 2nd oldest chess club in Greece with multiple resident Grandmasters
- 3 Combat sport gyms within walking distance for different coaches and diverse sparring looks
- Affordable training, lodging, and food for a cost effective camp
If you’d like to join last minute, or get ahead of securing your spot for next year, reach out. In the meantime, feel free to re-watch the 60 Minutes segment here, fill out an interest form for United Chessboxing here, and share chessboxing with a friend who may be interested.
Punch Points:
- If you are interested in joining Team USA Chessboxing 2026 as a Prospect, Alternate, Specialist, or 1st Team Hopeful, please knock out this form!
- The 2026 Team USA Campaign is where all fighters will share their story and raise funds / awareness from their communities to help cover training, travel, and competition expenses
- If you haven’t seen the coverage from 60 Minutes yet, follow this YouTube link to see the segment and get up to speed on how we did last year!
Invitation:
- I need help. Seriously. Between the Tryout Tour, managing a team of 30+ fighters, and trying to find sponsors / partners, all on top of my day job, I’m tapped out. Chessboxing generates $0, and is fueled entirely from passion for growing the sport. If you want to volunteer to help build something cool, reach out (please).
Thank you for reading and all of the support. Y’all make all of this unpaid work and sleepless nights worth it, and it’ll be that much sweeter when we take down Russia for a team gold someday.
In your corner,
Mat
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Launched a year ago
Between Rounds Newsletter I am a Chessboxing World Champion turned writer, speaker, and coach. I write about resilience, priming, cognitive flexibility and state change management.
First Published on Substack
Photo Credits by Matt Thomas/CBS 60 Minutes and Kavala Castle https://kavala-online.com/kavala-castle/
