VIBE CHESS × TECHCODE. THINK. CHECKMATE.
Backend, Frontend, AI, Data, DevOps, Product and everyone else who earns a living with their head. A real board instead of a browser, and people you have plenty to talk to about besides chess.
There are two ways in. Come along on your own - to an ordinary club night, where games are already going and half the room works in tech. Book your own tournament - a private one, just for programmers: for your company, your community, your conference, or two teams playing each other.
STATUS: no open tournament yet · private ones on request
We have not scheduled an open tournament for tech people yet, and we are not going to make up a date: the schedule lives in the app, and when one is announced it will appear there. What we can put together at any time is a private tournament for your company or community - no need to wait for the general schedule. And if you just want to play, you can already: the club runs regular chess evenings in Moscow.
Vibe Chess × Tech is chess evenings for people in tech. We sit developers, engineers, analysts and product people down at the board so they can play each other, get acquainted and spend an evening somewhere other than a chat window. It does not matter whether you ship production code or only recently worked out how to deliver checkmate.
Several short games in an evening, each against a new opponent. A real board, a clock and no browser tab.
Conversation starts by itself across a board. Twenty minutes of a game do more than an hour at a buffet.
At the end of the night there are standings and a first place. Losing stings, and that works better than any motivation talk.
Backend · Frontend · Fullstack · Mobile · Game
ML · AI · Data Science · Analytics · Research
DevOps · SRE · Cloud · System · Security
Product · Project · QA · Tech Lead · CTO
Not seeing your job title? If your work has anything to do with technology, come along - nobody asks questions at the door.
Three kinds of people end up side by side at an evening: those who play every day, those who last played at school, and those who open a chess app at three in the morning instead of sleeping. All three go home happy, and here is why.
Pairings follow the Swiss system: after the first round you are matched with people of your own level and from then on you only play them. Beginners do not get crushed, and strong players do not get bored.
The only requirement is knowing how the pieces move. If you are rusty: how the pieces move, the rules of chess, tactics for beginners.
Pick your city, see what is on and sign up in two taps. No questionnaire, no CV, no rating required.
On your own or with colleagues. Boards and clocks are ours, and you do not need to know anyone in advance.
Several rounds of blitz on the Swiss system. The app picks your opponent by strength, not alphabetically.
Points and tie-breaks are calculated automatically and the results are visible straight away. Then the bar and the conversations.
Pairings, rounds and standings are handled by the Vibe Chess app, using the bbpPairings engine under FIDE rules. How the system works - the Swiss system.
People from other teams and companies whose paths you would never cross otherwise.
An online game and a game across a table feel different. Hands, a clock, a face opposite you.
Find out who in the room really does calculate several moves ahead.
Two hours without Jira, Slack and calls. Thinking is allowed, just not about the sprint.
Standings, a first place and a club rating that carries on between evenings.
A shared interest turns up faster than a shared topic of conversation.
Club evenings are already running - on the Western Port embankment, at the Kaya coffee shop and at Goldfinch Pub. These are ordinary Vibe Chess nights rather than a dedicated tech tournament, but the crowd is exactly the one described above, and you can come tonight.
The club rating is live: it is recalculated after every game, and you can see it in the app, on the Rating tab. That is also where your result will show up after your first evening.
No need to wait for the general schedule. We put together a private tournament for a specific company, community or conference: we arrive with boards and clocks, host the evening and handle the pairings and standings. You provide the people, the room and the date.
A private evening for your people only: a department, a product team or the whole office. From eight people to a hundred.
Your team against a team from another tech company. The score is the sum of the games on every board.
A chess area or an evening tournament at a meetup, hackathon or company day. People drop by and play between talks.
Not one evening but a series: several tournaments with combined standings that carry on between meetings.
We reply the same day and tell you what we need from you and what it costs for your headcount.
A separate format, and the one that lands best in tech: two teams from two different companies sit down opposite each other. Not an office party inside one company, but a match.
We balance the line-ups by strength so the match is not over by move three. It works inside a single company too - backend vs frontend, product vs engineering, office vs remote.
We can also help you find the other company: the club knows teams who are keen on a match like this. Just tell us you are ready.
Set up a match between companiesA tournament inside one team for an office party or team building - the format for tech companies and corporate tournaments. How tournaments between companies in one sector come together - industry tournaments. The same format for other professions - for doctors, for finance professionals and for entrepreneurs, for lawyers, for engineers, for data analysts, for economists, for dentists, for architects and designers, for academics and teachers, for marketers.
Yes, and most people are in the same boat. Knowing how the pieces move is enough. 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 and no tournament experience is required. Your club rating appears by itself after your first game.
Yes, that is how most people come. There is no need to network on purpose: your opponent changes every round, so over the evening you end up talking to several people just along the way.
Yes. A group of colleagues plays inside the general tournament, and the results can be counted separately to see who from the company scored most. If you want a private tournament just for your own people, that is a different format: message us.
Usually two to two and a half hours of play, then as long as you like. A blitz game takes about ten minutes, and there are five to seven rounds.
Blitz. Usually 5+3 - five minutes per game plus three seconds per move. On shorter evenings it can be 3+2.
No date has been set yet. The schedule lives in the app: open it, pick your city and you will see the club's upcoming evenings, and when a tournament for tech people is announced it will appear there too. You can come to an ordinary club night right now.
Yes, and you do not need to wait for the general schedule. We bring the boards and clocks, host the evening and handle the pairings and standings; you provide the people, the room and the date. The format works for anything from eight people to a hundred.
Yes, that is a separate format: two teams sit opposite each other and the points from every board add up to a team score. We balance the line-ups by strength so the match is not a whitewash. If you do not have a second company in mind, we can help find one: the club knows teams who are keen on a match like this.
Nothing. We bring the boards, clocks and scoresheets. The app for pairings and standings is free, and you do not have to install it in advance.
The deploy can wait. The game cannot
There is no date for the first tech tournament yet, and we are not inventing one. Open the app: it has the schedule of upcoming evenings, and the tech tournament will appear there too. In the meantime you can play at the club's next evening.
♟ playvibechess.com/app