In Poland, chess players didn't just calculate moves – they held their breath while doing it. At the 2026 World Diving Chess Championships in Tarnowo Podgórne, competitors turned a swimming pool into the world's most stressful chess club, diving to the bottom to battle it out on submerged boards. Lithuanian grandmaster Paulius Pultinevicius and Polish player Anna Andrzejewska emerged as world champions in a sport that somehow combines strategy, stamina, and the ability to not panic underwater.
Where losing your breath is strategy
Diving chess is exactly what it sounds like. Players wear swimsuits and goggles, then dive to the pool floor to make moves on weighted magnetic chessboards designed to stop the pieces from floating away like confused pawns. There's one brutal catch – every move must happen in a single breath. Players can only surface once their turn is over, turning every match into a battle of lungs as much as logic.
Checkmate, but under water
This year's championship was the biggest yet, with 62 players willingly combining chess pressure with oxygen deprivation. Paulius Pultinevicius barely scraped into the finals on tiebreaks before going full underwater comeback mode, winning four straight matches to claim the men's title, while India's Harshit Raja secured bronze. In the women's category, Anna Andrzejewska dominated the board, earning huge cheers from the home crowd and proving that even underwater, a winning chess face can look intimidating.
