The Vibe Chess app is an online app for an over-the-board tournament: the boards and opponents are real, but everything that connects them goes through the server. Internet is needed in four places:
The main requirement is stability: a connection that works all tournament long without drop-outs. If every camera phone uses one venue network, test it under load in advance - with several phones at once, not just one.
You need a stable connection at every table until the end of the tournament. It can be mobile data from a good operator that works without failures at the venue, the venue's own Wi-Fi or your own mobile router. Best of all, two channels at once: a main one and a backup.
If you are still choosing a hall, checking the connection is one item on the list, together with light, tables and sockets: a venue for a chess tournament.
A short drop-out does not break the tournament - the app is ready for it:
A long outage is another matter: without a network the next round's pairings will not arrive and the standings will not update. So for a broadcast tournament a backup channel is not a luxury but insurance.
To sign up for a tournament and play, you need to sign in to the app. There are two ways - Telegram and VK ID.
Signing in through Telegram and the app inside Telegram depend on how the messenger works. If players' Telegram opens intermittently, there are two ways.
If players use the app inside Telegram, their phones need services that keep the messenger running reliably. That is each player's own decision, and at a tournament it may fail at the worst moment: one person's service switched off, another's subscription ran out.
It is more reliable to put Vibe Chess on the phone as a separate app. You sign in through Telegram once - at the first launch. After that the installed app goes straight to our server and never looks into Telegram again. So it works even where the messenger is unavailable - without a VPN.
The app installs straight from the browser, without an app store: its own icon on the phone screen, its own launch, no address bar. The easiest start is from the profile - there is an Install the app banner there, and inside it step-by-step instructions for your phone.
If you opened the app inside Telegram, you cannot install it from there: tap Open in phone browser, or copy the address and paste it into Safari or Chrome.
Once the app is installed, you can turn on phone notifications - they arrive even on a locked screen. For example, when your opponent marks the result of a game, you will know straight away.
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| A week before | Check the connection at the venue, arrange Wi-Fi, decide what the backup channel will be. |
| In the announcement | Ask players to install the app and sign in ahead of time, through Telegram or VK ID. |
| The day before | Charge the router and power banks, check that the camera phones sign in to the app. |
| On the day | Connect the phones at the tables to the main network, keep the backup ready, open the broadcast on the hall screen. |
| During the tournament | Check that the boards on the broadcast page are live; if the connection drops, switch to the backup channel. |
We build the app ourselves and are open to working together. Write to us if you need to:
A stable one: mobile data from a good operator that works without failures at the venue, or the venue's Wi-Fi. If every camera uses one network, test it under load in advance. It is best to have a backup channel: a mobile router or a hotspot from a phone on another network.
Yes: pairings, tables, score, standings and the broadcast go through the server. The chess clock works offline, and if the connection drops the camera stores the moves on the phone and sends them when it is back.
Through Telegram or VK ID. With Telegram, the bot sends a confirmation code and then writes to you about rounds and opponents. VK ID works if Telegram does not open.
Either make Telegram run reliably on the phone or - more reliably - install the Vibe Chess app on the phone and sign in once through Telegram or VK ID. The installed app works directly, without Telegram and without a VPN.
The installed app does not. It goes straight to the Vibe Chess server and never looks into Telegram.
Open playvibechess.com/app in Safari, tap the circle with three dots, Share, find Add to Home Screen and tap Add. Then launch it from the icon and sign in once.
Open playvibechess.com/app in Chrome, tap the three dots in the top right and choose Install app. Then launch it from the icon and sign in once.
In the installed app: Profile - Settings - App notifications, then allow notifications when the phone asks.
Write to the developers on Telegram: we will add the sign-in your federation, club or company needs.
Viewers see a pause, but the game is not lost: the camera phone sends the moves when the connection returns. The players' clock runs offline.
No arbiter skills required. The app takes over the part that usually stops people from running tournaments at all: who plays whom in each round and who finishes first.
works for ten players and for fifty
for a small group that wants to play everyone
for those who do not need a bracket at all
The bot is constantly improved based on real tournaments. If you need a feature that isn't there yet, message the developers right inside the bot with the /support command. Many features appeared exactly because organizers asked for them, and useful ideas get added quickly.
How the whole chess tournament live broadcast works. Recording moves with a camera - recording a game with a camera. Which phone you need - which smartphone suits Vibe Chess. A clock on the phone - a chess clock on your phone. What to buy for the hall - chess sets for events. A hall for the tournament - a venue for a chess tournament.
At the board since childhood: hazy about his rating, precise about every rook he has blundered. Counts an evening as a good one if the opponent stayed to talk afterwards instead of rushing off to check with an engine. Message →
