THE HOOP GAMBIT
1v1 and 3v3 on courts Wemby designed himself.
An open rapid tournament. Every rating, ages 5 to 91.
The Hoop Gambit rests on one conviction: performance is never purely physical. Anticipation, decision making, reading the game and handling pressure decide a possession exactly the way they decide a position on the board.
Both tournaments run at once. A FIBA and FFBB homologated basketball competition in 1v1 and 3v3 across U15, U18 and senior mixed divisions, alongside an FFE homologated rapid chess tournament open to every rating. Same weekend, same venue, same intensity.
Founded and hosted by Victor Wembanyama in the towns where he grew up, it is open to everyone: from five year olds to a ninety one year old, from first timers to International Masters.
I like chess because it challenges the brain big time.Victor Wembanyama · Founder
The second edition doubles the size of the first: 1,150 spots across two gymnasiums, two towns, and one weekend in August.
The playground is the whole concept in one image: a full basketball court laid out as a checkerboard, with the star and king crest at centre circle. Designed with Wemby and unveiled ahead of the tournament, it puts the 3v3 on the very squares the chess is named after.
A 7'4" centre whose game reads more like a thought experiment than a scouting report. He grew up between Le Chesnay and Nanterre, and that is exactly where he chose to put his tournament.
In 2026 he unveiled his own mark with Nike: a V above a W, revealed by a supernova collapsing into a pulsar, leaning all the way into the nickname that has followed him since he was a teenager.
The Hoop Gambit is the clearest statement of how he sees the game: the body and the brain are not two departments. They are the same competition.
8–9 August 2026 · 1,150 spots · Last year they went in 24 hours.