We'll build your company team and set up a match against another company
Corporate chess works like any team sport, only with boards instead of a pitch. Each company holds a qualifier, the best players make the team, then the teams meet board against board and game points add up to a team score.
It isn't a niche pastime: in Russia, companies from energy, banking, IT, metals and transport have all fielded teams - the list is below. We help you take the same route: run an internal qualifier, pick the line-up, find an opponent and hold the match.
Usually four to six players in the main line-up plus reserves. These aren't professionals: an engineer, an analyst, a lawyer, someone from the plant floor - people who play in their spare time
Board one is the strongest player, then down from there. Opponents sit board against board, so the match is fair even when the teams differ in level
Game points add up to an overall score: 3.5 to 2.5 is a win. Losing on your own board isn't the end of the world if the team takes the rest
Mostly blitz or rapid: a match fits into an evening rather than a weekend. People come after work and are home before midnight
When teams play as a league, match results build up into a table, and by the end of the season there's a winner. That holds interest far better than a one-off tournament
Rules often require a woman or a newcomer on the team, so it doesn't turn into three club-level players and stays a team that represents the company
How team scoring works and what to do with teams of different sizes is covered in the team tournament and the tournament between departments.
Corporate chess isn't exotic. Russian companies from most major industries have fielded teams: energy, oil and gas, banking, IT, metals, transport.
These are teams that have competed in corporate chess competitions. We did not run those tournaments and have no connection to the teams listed - the list answers one question only: “who actually plays this?” We deliberately leave out points and placings: rules and line-ups differ from one competition to the next, and comparing them would be unfair.
The company gets a team people actually cheer for. A rare case where colleagues root not for the sales department but for the people at the boards
To pick a team you need an internal tournament. That becomes an event in its own right - and it usually turns up players nobody knew about
A match against a company from the same industry is an informal reason to talk for people who normally only see each other at conferences
A season of matches keeps itself going: there's no need to invent a new event every time
Match photos look alive because something really is happening: people thinking, arguing, celebrating
Quizzes and rope courses wear thin. Chess has been around for fifteen hundred years and is holding up so far
We won't promise that a team will raise engagement or “measurably strengthen company culture” - there's nothing to measure it with. We promise a match, a line-up, a score and final standings.
We run a tournament inside the company and build the line-up from the results: board one, board two, board three and reserves. It's also a proper event for your staff
We organise the meeting of two teams: rules, boards, arbiting, scoring. If there's no second company yet, we'll help find an opponent
Several matches with overall standings - between companies, or between sites within a group
The app handles pairings and the table under FIDE rules; the host settles any disputes. Nobody keeps score in a notebook
Boards, clocks and scoresheets are ours. The venue is yours, or we'll find one: an office, a restaurant, a loft
After the match you get the final standings, photos and a short write-up - something to show management and post internally
To keep it going all year rather than for one evening, there's the Vibe Chess corporate league: a qualifier inside the company, a team picked by rating and matches against other companies within one season - see season-long tournaments. Need a one-off event for your own people - turnkey corporate tournaments. Matches between companies in the same industry - industry tournaments.
Tell us: what the company is, how many employees are keen to play, whether you have an opponent in mind and which city you're in. We'll reply the same day with a format, a price and where to start. Most companies start with an internal qualifier: it gives you a team and is an event in its own right.
Competitions where companies field teams and play each other. Each company holds a qualifier, the best players form the team, and then teams meet board by board: board one against board one, board two against board two. Game points add up to a team score.
Yes. Strong players almost always turn up - nobody knows about them until you run an internal tournament. And if your team turns out weaker than the opponent, that's solved by matchmaking: games are more fun between equals, and we help find a suitable opponent.
Usually four to six main players and one or two reserves. More than that is a festival; fewer, and luck decides the match.
A match at a fast time control takes two to three hours including the prizegiving. An internal qualifier takes one evening. A league season is several meetings over a quarter or half a year.
Yes, and it's one of the most convenient options: there's no need to look for an outside opponent, and people get a reason to meet colleagues from another city or another site.
No. Any employee can play; we use FIDE rules and pairings simply because they're clear and verifiable. If you want a tournament that actually counts towards a rating, that's a separate story, and we have a page about it.
No, and we won't claim other people's tournaments as ours. The list shows that corporate chess exists in Russia and that large companies from many industries play it. Our tournaments are different ones; you can see which on our corporate and industry tournament pages.
Write to us: we know companies interested in a match like this and will help bring two teams together. The easiest opponents are usually partners, contractors or neighbours in your business centre.
It depends on the format: an internal qualifier, a single match or a season. Send us the details and we'll reply the same day.
The online part - pairings, standings, rules - works in any city. On-site events with equipment and a host are based in Moscow and the Moscow region; anything else we discuss separately.
An event for your staff - corporate tournaments, occasions for HR, in Moscow. Tournaments by profession - for programmers, for finance professionals, for engineers. Ratings and official status - a FIDE-rated tournament, the Elo rating.
