Play chess online, free, against real people

Blitzmate is online chess with one twist: both players put the same number of virtual coins into a pot, and whoever wins the game takes it. There is no engine and no bot anywhere in it — every game you play is against another person, in your browser.

Free to play · No download · 13+ · Coins have no cash value

How a game works

Pick a time control, pick what you want to stake, and ask for a match. Blitzmate looks for another player who wants the same game at roughly your strength, which usually takes seconds, and opens the board for both of you at once. From there it is ordinary chess: castling, en passant, promotion, threefold repetition and the fifty-move rule all work the way they do over a board.

A game ends by checkmate, by resignation, by an agreed draw, by one of the drawn positions the rules define, or by a clock reaching zero. However it ends, the result is worked out on our servers, and both players see the same thing at the same moment.

Bullet, blitz and rapid

Speed chess comes in three widely understood bands, and Blitzmate carries all of them:

• Bullet — 1 to 2 minutes each. Won and lost on hands as much as on ideas.
• Blitz — 3 to 5 minutes each. The format most online players live in.
• Rapid — 10 to 15 minutes each. Enough time to actually calculate.

Each band is offered with or without an increment — a few seconds added to your clock every time you move, so a long game cannot be lost on the clock alone. A 3+2 game starts at three minutes and gives two seconds back per move.

It plays in your browser

There is nothing to install and no plugin to approve. Open Blitzmate in the browser you already have, on a laptop, a tablet or a phone, sign in with an email address, and the next screen is a board. Your account, coins and rating are the same wherever you sign in, so a game started at a desk and a game started on a bus draw on one balance. Native apps for iOS and Android are coming for players who would rather have an icon.

What free actually means here

Free to sign up, and free to keep playing. You get coins when you create an account, and a daily bonus adds more every day you come back. After that, the main way to get coins is to win them: take a pot and it goes straight onto your balance.

If you run dry there are advertiser-funded offers and short surveys that credit coins, and coin packs you can buy. Neither is required to play, and nothing in the game is held back for people who spend — the matchmaking queue, every time control and every stake are open to an account that has never paid anything.

How staking works

Both players stake the same number of coins, so neither side can buy an advantage. The two stakes make the pot, the winner takes the pot, and a draw returns each player's stake untouched. The coins leave your balance when the game starts and the result is settled on the server, which is why a disconnection cannot strand a pot.

Fair play is decided on the server, not on your device

Staking only means something if the game cannot be rigged, so none of it happens on your computer. Every move is checked for legality on our servers, both clocks run there, and every coin movement is written to a ledger. A modified client cannot make an illegal move, hand itself time, or change a balance, because it is not the thing deciding any of those. A brief network drop does not cost you time you were not using.

Engine-assistance, collusion and multi-account detection run on rated games, and you can report or block an opponent from inside a match. Blitzmate is 13+, or the minimum age required in your country if that is higher.

Questions people ask

Is Blitzmate free to play?

Yes. Signing up is free, you get coins when you join, and a daily bonus tops you up every day you come back. Winning a staked match adds the pot to your balance. Coin packs exist if you want more, but nothing is locked behind them.

Do I need to download anything to play chess online?

No. Blitzmate runs in a normal browser on a laptop, a tablet or a phone. Open it, sign in with an email address, and the next screen is a board. Native apps for iOS and Android are on the way for players who prefer them.

Can I play chess online with a friend?

Yes. Instead of entering the matchmaking queue, open Challenge and enter your friend's username. They get an invitation, and the game starts the moment they accept. You both stake the same number of coins, exactly as in a matched game.

What time controls can I play?

Bullet at 1 and 2 minutes, blitz at 3 and 5 minutes, and rapid at 10 and 15 minutes, with or without an increment. Increment adds a few seconds to your clock after each move you make.

How old do I have to be?

Blitzmate is 13+, or the minimum age required in your country if that is higher. Coins are an in-game currency only, but staking still means keeping score, and 13 is the floor our Terms of Use set.

How do you stop cheating?

Every move, clock and coin movement is validated on the server, so nothing about a game is decided on a player's device and a modified client cannot make an illegal move or add time. Engine-assistance and multi-account detection run on rated games, and you can report or block an opponent from inside a match.

Start a game

Pick a clock, pick a stake, and find out whether you are as fast as you think. More about the app is on the Blitzmate home page, and anything this page did not answer is probably on the support page.