A result nobody else can take credit for, and nothing can explain away
Brand, performance, research, agencies. An evening with no attribution, no seasonality and no algorithm updates - just you and your forty moves.
There are two ways in. Come on your own to a regular club evening, where games are already under way. Or book your own tournament - a private one: for your department or agency, at a conference, for a community, or as an agency-vs-client match.
If you're looking for an activity for your clients, head here: chess at a client event. This page is about an evening for the team itself.
No open tournament yet · private ones on request
We haven't scheduled a general tournament for marketers with open sign-up yet, and we won't invent a date: the schedule lives in the app, and when one is announced it will show up there. But we can put together a private tournament for your team or agency at any time - there's no need to wait for the general calendar. And if you just want to play, the club already runs regular chess evenings in Moscow.
Marketing is a job where almost any result can be explained after the fact, and that wears you out more than the work itself. A chess evening works the other way round.
No seasonality, no algorithm update, no "the market dipped". You lost the game, and there is nobody to pin it on.
Nobody argues over which move won it: the whole sequence is written down and sitting in front of you on the scoresheet.
No deck, no budget defence, no sign-off from three stakeholders. The decision is made - the move is played.
We won't promise that chess will sharpen your strategic thinking - there's nothing to back that up, and saying it to this audience would be particularly awkward. We promise exactly what happens: a few games, real people and an evening you won't want to leave after half an hour.
Brand managers · PR · content · social media · communications
Digital · paid media · CRM and retention · product marketing
Market research · campaign analytics · customer discovery
Creative and media agencies · event teams · producers · contractors
Nobody asks where you work at the door. At the board, neither budget nor positioning will help you.
Three kinds of people end up side by side on the evening: those who play every day, those who last played at university, and those who open a chess app between calls. All three leave happy, and here's why.
Pairings follow the Swiss system: after the first round you're matched with people of your own level and play only them from then on. Beginners don't get crushed, and strong players don't get bored.
The only requirement is knowing how the pieces move. If you're rusty: how the pieces move, the rules of chess, tactics for beginners.
Pick your city, see what's on and sign up in two taps. No forms, no rating required.
On your own or with the whole team. We bring the boards and clocks; you don't need to know anyone.
A few blitz games under the Swiss system. The app picks your opponent by strength, not alphabetically.
Points and tiebreaks are calculated automatically and the results are visible straight away. No report to write.
Pairings, matchups and standings are handled by the Vibe Chess app, using the bbpPairings engine under FIDE rules. How the system works - the Swiss system.
Nothing to package, pitch or explain nicely. You played, and it's clear without a slide.
Not likes or reach, but a result you can't tweak by rewriting the brief.
All day you compete for other people's attention. For two hours yours belongs to the board alone.
The ones you usually deal with in project email threads, not over a game.
A reason to pull the department or agency out of the sprint that doesn't feel like compulsory team building.
First place and a club rating that carries over between evenings.
No need to wait for the general calendar. We put together a private tournament for a specific team, conference or community: we arrive with boards and clocks, run the evening, and handle the pairings and standings. You provide the people, the room and the date.
A private evening for the marketing department, a creative group or the whole agency. Anywhere from eight people to a hundred.
Your team against the client's team or a contractor's. The score is the sum of the games on every board, and it's a great way to get to know each other all over again.
A chess area or an evening tournament at a marketing conference or industry event. People drop by and play between talks.
A tournament for a professional community, club or group chat: a ready-made evening programme you don't have to design or host yourselves.
We reply the same day and tell you what we need from you and what it costs for your headcount.
A format of its own: two teams sit down facing each other. Agency against client, brand against contractor, or two agencies head to head - a match with a team score and a winner.
We balance the line-ups by strength so the match isn't a whitewash by move three. A match with the client beats any dinner: for two hours you talk not about deadlines and revisions but about the position on the board.
We can also help find the other team - just tell us you're up for it.
Set up a team matchChess as a format for meeting clients - a client event. A tournament as part of a company party - corporate tournaments and chess activities for corporate events. Tournaments between companies in the same industry - industry tournaments. The same format for other professions - architects and designers, programmers, data analysts, entrepreneurs, finance professionals, economists, lawyers, engineers, doctors, dentists, academics and teachers. Your brand at our evenings - sponsorship and branding.
Yes, and most people are in the same boat. All you need is to know how the pieces move. The Swiss system pairs you with players of your own level from the second round on, so lopsided games are rare.
No. No rating, no title, no tournament experience needed. You get an internal club rating automatically after your first game.
Then the neighbouring page is the one for you: it covers the client event format - how a chess tournament works at a get-together with customers and partners. The link is below. This page is about an evening for the marketing team itself.
We have no numbers and we won't make any up. We are responsible for the mechanics: we bring boards and clocks, run the evening and handle the pairings and standings, while people play and talk. Promising reach or leads for that would be dishonest.
Yes, that's how most people come. Over the evening you'll play several people and chat with them along the way.
Yes. The team plays within the general tournament, and the results can be tallied separately. If you'd like a private evening just for your people, that's a different format: drop us a message.
Usually two to two and a half hours of play. A blitz game takes about ten minutes, and there are five to seven rounds.
Within reason, yes: your branding in the tournament area, your prizes, your tournament name. The boards and clocks stay ours, and the rules stay FIDE rules: we don't rework the game around a brand.
No date has been set yet. The schedule lives in the app: open it, pick a city and you'll see the club's upcoming evenings, and when an industry tournament is announced it will appear there too. You can come to a regular evening right now.
Nothing. We bring the boards, clocks and scoresheets. The app for pairings and standings is free, and you don't have to install it in advance.
Two hours you don't have to justify to anyone
There's no date for a general marketers' tournament yet, and we're not making one up. Open the app: that's where upcoming evenings are listed, and where an industry tournament will appear too. A private one for your team we can organise any time.
♟ playvibechess.com/app
