Chess boxing alternates rounds of chess and boxing, and a player can lose on the chess board by exceeding the time limit or resigning. The idea was pictured in a 1992 French comic, but it was turned into a real sport by Dutch performance artist Iepe Rubingh, who staged the first event in Berlin in 2003. At the first world championship fight that year in Amsterdam, Rubingh won in the eleventh round after his opponent went over the chess time limit. Clubs then spread to London, Los Angeles, Moscow and India, and the sport developed its own rules and governing bodies.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.