How We Blended Online Chess with Real-Life Vibes in Athens and Kyiv

On July 20 — World Chess Day — something pretty cool happened. We brought online chess offline. And we made a chess-tournament it in two cities at once: Athens 🇬🇷 and Kyiv 🇺🇦.

Players registered in advance by downloading our game, joined the tournament online — but came to play on their devices in real life. 

Sounds strange? Here’s how it worked:

They met up at cozy cafés, connected through the google meet and faced off in real-time online matches. Coffee in hand. Friendly, but a bit tense atmosphere! Eventually, after a 1-hour chess battle we’ve got winners! A Greek team won overall, led by the Ukrainian FIDE champion.

Among the single winners:

🏆 A FIDE Woman Champion who not only competed, but also commentated the games live. She’s a Ukrainian chess grandmaster, chess trainer and journalist. Welcome amazing Anastasia Karlovich!

 🥈 A passionate Greek player! Welcome Apostolidis Odisseas.

The warm atmosphere was ensured by partners and the cozy cafés, Blysscafe in Athens and Minimalist cafe in Kyiv. Certificates and prizes were proudly presented by Mykolay Khaustov, the creator and owner of the chess game.

The whole thing was small, local, a bit experimental — but it worked. Players loved the mix of digital and real. So what’s next?

• We’re planning a bigger online tournament soon.
•  And yes, we’re turning this hybrid format into something more regular.

This is just the beginning. Thanks to everyone who joined us — in pixels and in person!