Hasan disagrees with controversial decision in Ludwig’s Mogul Chessboxing Championship

Andrea Botez’s chessboxing match against chess woman grandmaster Dina Belenkaya yesterday was a cause for controversy during Ludwig’s Mogul Chessboxing Championship—and Hasan wasn’t shy about saying what he felt about the decision.

Chessboxing requires players to alternate between focusing on chess and attempting to physically dominate their opponent, and the Botez-Belenkaya matchup was a prime example of what happens when each competitor vastly outmatches the other in opposite aspects.

Belenkaya, being a woman grandmaster, had a clear advantage against the younger Botez sister in chess. But for what Andrea lacked on the chessboard, she more than made up for it when the two put their gloves on.

As the match came to its final rounds, Botez arguably bent the rules by stalling as long as she could during her chess turns, knowing that Belenkaya would soon have her in checkmate. Belenkaya returned the favor during the last round of boxing by running away from Botez as much as possible to make sure the match came down to one last round of chess.

But what Belenkaya wasn’t prepared for was the flurry of punches Botez came in with, delivering enough knockdowns to force what should have been called a TKO but was not—and Hasan wasn’t happy about it.

While Hasan admitted today that Andrea stalled enough to be considered a loser before the final boxing round, he made it clear that he wasn’t there for the chess in that moment.

“Yeah, I get that, but I want to see blood,” Hasan said.

After the match, Botez said that the “better chess player won,” congratulating Belenkaya. But then she had a chance to take one last jab at the winner by saying that she thought they were supposed to be boxing, not playing “hide and seek.”

Regardless of the winner of the match, the fans of the event were the true winners on the night by getting a chance to see a dizzying match of chessboxing that included about as much drama as one could handle.