Chess Me Outside

Conquer your city…
with chess!

Walk to a real bridge, windmill or statue. Win one short chess challenge. It turns your colour on every player's map, until someone comes and takes it back.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

Free on iPhone and Android.

Go outside. Solve chess challenges. Capture monuments!
Conquer your city: the map in faction colours, with the Domkerk selected and a Challenge button. Various types of chess challenges: an opening, a mate and an endgame on the board. Make it yours: avatars in faction colours, the titles you earn and a leaderboard.

Factions

Pick a side

Three factions, one map. Whichever you join, the other two want your street.

A rook in Rooks colours

Rooks

Straight at it. No detours.

A knight in Knights colours

Knights

Move in unexpected ways.

A bishop in Bishops colours

Bishops

Halfway across the board already.

The map

40,000+ monuments in the Netherlands. Most are still uncaptured.

Bridges, windmills, church towers, statues, parks, artworks, pumping stations, viewpoints and public chess boards, from Wikidata and OpenStreetMap. Every one of them can be yours by tonight.

  • Bridge
  • Memorial
  • Statue
  • Church tower
  • Place of worship
  • Pumping station
  • Windmill
  • Artwork
  • Viewpoint
  • Trail marker
  • Park
  • Fountain
  • Landmark
  • Chess club
  • Chess board

See the live map

Map of the Netherlands with every monument marked as a dot, most grey, some in the three faction colours. See the live map
  • Uncaptured
  • Rooks
  • Knights
  • Bishops

An illustration of the map, three factions holding their corners.

The challenge

Five kinds of chess challenge

Opening

Play the first few moves of a chess opening.

Tactic

Find the winning tactic.

Mate

Deliver checkmate.

Endgame

Finish this game.

Endgame technique

Win from this position against Stockfish.

Openings, tactics, mates and endgames are rated separately. Difficulty follows your own rating, so a beginner and a club player both sweat a little.

Your map too

Put your club or chess board on the map

Clubs, outdoor boards, and anything the map missed

Does your club play at a fixed venue? Is there a chess table in your park that the map does not know about? Send it in. A person checks it, and it becomes a monument every player in town can walk to.

Add a monument

Keep your head up out there

This game sends you into the real world. Look around you rather than at your screen, play the challenge standing still, and do not go anywhere you are not supposed to be.

Pawns come from winning.
Improving comes from playing.
Both come when you chess outside.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

Free on iPhone and Android.