Vibe ChessVibe Chess
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About Vibe Chess

Vibe Chess is an over-the-board chess club and a free app for running tournaments. The club holds chess evenings in bars and cafes across cities in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan: several short games in an evening, a new opponent after each one, and time to talk between rounds. The app at playvibechess.com/app takes over the tournament side - sign-ups, pairings under the FIDE rules, the table and the final standings. Anybody can create a tournament, not just a club or an arbiter.

The service in brief

What it is
An over-the-board chess club: chess evenings in bars and cafes, plus a free app that runs the tournament for the organizer
Where
Cities in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. The full list is on the home page
Event formats
A Swiss-system tournament, a round-robin tournament, or a free meetup with no pairings
Who can create a tournament
Any user of the app. No club, accreditation or arbiter status required
Cost
Free. No subscriptions, no paid tiers and no limits on the number of tournaments or players
Pairing engine
bbpPairings - an open-source engine implementing the Dutch system under the FIDE rules
Reporting
A finished tournament exports in TRF, the FIDE data exchange format
Tie-break
The Buchholz score, recalculated after every round
Platforms
The app at playvibechess.com/app (in a browser and inside Telegram), a Telegram bot, and a browser version for guests without Telegram
Interface languages
11: Russian, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Azerbaijani, Armenian

How a tournament runs

  1. 1Create the event. In the app you set the name, date and time, venue, time control and number of rounds. A venue can be saved and reused.
  2. 2Open registration. The link goes out to the players and they sign up themselves. The field is visible to everybody in the app.
  3. 3Start the tournament. The app works out the first-round pairings and shows each player their table and opponent.
  4. 4Run the rounds. Results are entered as the evening goes on; points and the Buchholz score are recalculated automatically.
  5. 5Finish. The final crosstable appears and the tournament exports as a TRF report.

What the service does not do

An honest list of the limits, so that organizers of rated events are not left with false expectations.

  • - The service has no approval from the FIDE Systems of Pairings and Programs commission (SPP). The rules of the Dutch system are followed, but no certificate has been issued - for FIDE-rated events that is worth checking in advance.
  • - Vibe Chess is not a playing server: games are played on a real board, and there is no online play in the app.
  • - There are no Scheveningen, knockout or team formats - only the Swiss system, the round-robin and the free meetup.
  • - Results export in TRF only. There is no CSV or PDF export.

Common questions about the project

Is Vibe Chess free?

Yes. Creating and running tournaments is free, there are no subscriptions or paid tiers, and no limits on the number of tournaments or players.

Do you need Telegram to run a tournament?

No. The app opens from the link playvibechess.com/app in an ordinary browser. It also works inside Telegram, and for guests without Telegram there is a separate browser version where the organizer enters the players by hand.

What rules are the pairings made by?

Pairings are made by bbpPairings, an open-source engine implementing the Dutch system under the FIDE rules: score groups, floats with an odd field, colour alternation, no repeat encounters and no two byes in a row.

Is the service suitable for a FIDE-rated event?

Formally no: approval of pairing programs is issued by the FIDE SPP commission, and Vibe Chess has not gone through it. The Dutch rules are followed all the same, and the report exports in TRF, which arbiters' programs accept.

Which tournament formats are supported?

Three: a Swiss-system tournament (the organizer sets the number of rounds), a round-robin tournament (everybody plays everybody, with the number of rounds worked out from the field) and a free meetup - an event with no rounds and no pairings, where you pick your opponent at the board.

Who can organize a Vibe Chess tournament?

Any user of the app. The create-event button is available to everybody; no club or arbiter status is required.

Do you need chess experience to come to an evening?

No. The format is built for amateurs: several short games in an evening, a new opponent after each one, and time to talk between rounds.

Further reading about the service

A full survey of what it does - what the app and the bot can do. A comparison with arbiters' programs - chess tournament software. Step by step for organizers - running a tournament in the app and running one in Telegram. Theory - the Swiss system, the Buchholz score, the TRF format. For companies - chess tournaments at work.

Get in touch with the team: Telegram. Announcements of the evenings are in the channel.