About
About Berlin Chess
Berlin Chess is a free app and website that maps every place in Berlin where people play chess over the board — clubs, cafés, parks and bars — with the city’s tournaments, blitz evenings and club nights in one calendar. As of 23 October 2026 it lists 87 places to play chess in Berlin, 44 of them chess clubs, and 94 events in the next 30 days.
Not to be confused with
Berlin Chess is not the Berlin Defence — the chess opening 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 — and it is not the Berliner Schachverband, the city’s chess federation, though it lists the federation’s tournaments and links to them.
Who makes it
Berlin Chess is made in Berlin by Özgür Besbudak, as an independent, non-commercial project: no advertising, nothing for sale and no in-app purchases. It launched on the App Store in August 2026, in English and German.
Where the listings come from
The places to play come from the Berliner Schachverband’s list of clubs, from OpenStreetMap, and from our own research. The events come from the federation’s calendar and from the clubs’ own published calendars. Every listing is read by a person before it appears, and every page says what date its information is from.
Open data
The listings are published as open data, so anyone can use them.
venues.json— every place to play, with its address and coordinates, under CC BY 4.0 — credit “Berlin Chess” and, for locations, OpenStreetMap contributors.events.ics— every upcoming event, to subscribe to in any calendar app. The facts belong to the clubs and the federation that publish them; each event links its organiser.
Questions
- Is Berlin Chess free?
- Yes. The Berlin Chess app and website are free, with no advertising and no in-app purchases.
- Do I need an account?
- Not for the website. The Berlin Chess app asks you to sign in — with Apple, Google or an email address — so that it can keep the places you save.
- Is there an Android version?
- Berlin Chess is on the App Store for iPhone now, and an Android version is coming to Google Play.
- Where does the information come from?
- Berlin Chess takes its events from the Berliner Schachverband’s calendar and the clubs’ own calendars, and its places from the federation’s club list, OpenStreetMap and our own research. A person checks each listing before it appears.
- How do I get my club or event listed — or removed?
- Write to berlinchessapp@gmail.com. Corrections and new listings are added, and anything an organiser asks to remove from the website is taken down the same day.
- Is Berlin Chess the city’s chess federation?
- No. The Berliner Schachverband is the federation for clubs in Berlin; Berlin Chess is an independent app and website that lists the federation’s tournaments alongside the clubs’ own evenings and the cafés, parks and bars where people play.