Live chess · Every nation

Coffee&Chess

Every nation. Every board. One cup of coffee at a time.

Pull up a chair with RiverJohn8 for calm, live chess on chess.com, and follow The 195 Challenge: one game against someone from every country on Earth, all played live on stream.

Show times

Live every day: 8:00–9:30 AM & 3:00–4:00 PM Central

The 195 Challenge144 / 195 nations
John, RiverJohn8, in his Coffee & Chess cap
RIVERJOHN8
51Nations
to go
LATEST

The 195 Challenge

One game against every country on Earth

193 UN member states, plus the Holy See and Palestine. One opponent from each. Every game played live on stream.

73-8-61
Won · Drawn · Lost
WinDrawLoss
142
Games on record
6
Continents
331
Days on the road
51
Nations to go
73.8%
Of the world played

From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, from the Holy See to the islands of the Pacific: one host, one board, and a whole world on the other side of the table. Results come straight from chess.com game records, counted from the first streamed game on Dec 5, 2025.

Tap a country to see who John played.

Hover or tap a country, click it to replay the game on chess.com. Small nations are shown as dots. Drag or use + / − to zoom.

The Roll of Nations

Every opponent, every flag

Search the full list of 195. Tap a username to visit that player on chess.com.

Open seats

Represent your country

51 nations still have an empty chair at the board. If you play on chess.com and your profile country is one of these, John would love to play you live on stream.

  1. Find your country in the list.
  2. Send RiverJohn8 a message on chess.com.
  3. Pick a time, pour a coffee, and play on stream.
Message RiverJohn8 on chess.com

Opens chess.com messaging. A free chess.com account is needed. This site doesn't collect any personal information.

John, host of Coffee & Chess

About the show

Pull up a chair, pour a cup

Coffee, calm chess, and good company.

Coffee & Chess is John's live chess show. He plays as RiverJohn8 on chess.com, live on TikTok, with a café feel and smooth jazz in the background. Win, lose or draw, every game is played in the open, with chat along for the ride.

The 195 Challenge is the show's big quest: a game against someone from every country in the world. Every new flag on the map is a new friend across the board.

Show times

Live every day: 8:00–9:30 AM & 3:00–4:00 PM Central

Follow @RiverJohn8 on TikTok to get notified when John goes live.