Chadel - chess and padel

On the rest day of the recent Candidates, many top chess players hit the padel courts for a friendly tournament: Caruana, Muzychuk, Esipenko... Some look quite professional on the pictures, but if you watch the video, you'll note that they have some room for improvement in the padel department. That is, if they want to have any chance to become World Champions... of chadel!
Because: forget the painstaking qualification for the next cycle, all unsuccessful Candidates from Cyprus are very welcome to shake off their frustration in an attempt to win the upcoming Chadel World Championship, later this year. After due padel practice, of course!

But what is it?

As the name already suggests, chadel is a team sport for two players that combines chess and padel. Every round, you face the same opponents twice: once on the padel court and once on two chess boards. In the padel match, you play 8 games in total, so the score can be anywhere between 8-0 and 0-8. A win in rapid chess (7 minutes + 5 seconds increment) nets a player 4 points, a draw 2, so a team can also score a maximum of 8 points on the chess boards. This leads to a combined score between 16-0 and 0-16 for a round of chadel.

World Cup

The first ever tournament with this format will be played in November. So: plenty of time left to practice! And it's an Open World Championship, meaning that all chess and padel lovers with a decent level in both disciplines are welcome to register for this first edition.
So, this is the chance for you and your buddy to become the first ever Chadel World Champions! No doubt, in subsequent editions, this will become harder and harder, as this sport will grow in popularity and is expected to easily surpass sports like chess boxing, biathlon, "Nordic Combined" or other vastly inferior aberrations.

It will be a one day event, taking place on 28 November 2026, at "Plaza Padel" in Rijswijk (near the Hague), the Netherlands. Save the date!
More information (participation fee, prizes, etc.) will follow, but the tournament website is already up and running and provides more detailed information about the format and the rules.

So, don't waste time*, form a team and...

sign up!

As organisers (and participants!), Jan Willem Duijzer and myself, Derk Dekker, are looking forward to welcome all of you, from (decent) patzer to grandmaster and from paquete to Premier Padel player (m/f), for a challenging, fun day in a friendly atmosphere.

See you in November!

Derk & Jan Willem

* The location limits possible participation to 32 teams.

The future is bright!

We are counting on reaching Olympic status in 2032 in Brisbane. Separately, chess and padel will have no chance, of course. But together, in this exciting format?! Pure gold!
We welcome all who would like to keep informed about all things chadel to join the dedicated team page, here on lichess.