Find your people ·
Every town has a castle. Now you can find yours.
Castles are clubs: real rooms, real boards. Gambits are open offers: a game in the park, a meetup, a tournament. Both are here, and both are near you.
The short version
- Find Castles near you, and when they meet
- Ask to join, and the organizer lets you in
- Post a gambit: an open game, a meetup or a tournament
- Accept a gambit to say you're coming
A chess club is the best kind of social network: it has chairs. The hard part is finding one. Clubs meet in libraries, cafés, church halls and the back rooms of pubs, and they advertise with a laminated sign, if they advertise at all.
Castles near you
A Castle is a club. Each one has its own page: where it meets, when, and what to expect when you walk in. Look for Castles near you, ask to join, and the organizer lets you in. Make one your home Castle and it’s the first thing you see.
Running a club that isn’t here yet? Start a Castle. It takes a couple of minutes, and you can print its poster the same night.
Throw down a gambit
A gambit is an offer out in the open: an open game on Saturday morning, a blitz meetup at the café, a small tournament. Post one and anyone nearby can accept the gambit, which is our fancy way of saying RSVP. Set a limit and tweak the details as plans firm up. Have to call it off? Everyone who said yes hears about it.
Bring your online game
Link your chess.com or Lichess account and we’ll use it as a starting point, so your first pairings aren’t a shot in the dark.
Grown-ups at the board
Castle Gambit is for adults: you need to be 18 or over to join a Castle, accept a gambit or play at club night. There are no direct messages, and your rating stays with the people you choose. Anyone younger is welcome to the guides, which are free to read without an account.