Game rules

Pairing

Choose a stake and a time control, then press "Play". We pair you with an opponent. You cannot choose or challenge an opponent.

You look for one game at a time. We pair only players who chose the same stake and the same time control.

After a game, "Play again" puts you back in the queue for the same game. It is not a rematch: you meet whoever the pairing picks.

When you join the queue, you can be paired only after a random wait of 2 to 6 seconds.

Then we draw your opponent at random from the 3 players closest to your rating who are ready. So nobody can time a queue join to meet a chosen player.

At first we pair you only with players within 50 rating points of you. The range widens by 5 points for every second you wait, up to 200 points.

You must be inside your opponent's range too. Pairing uses your rating at the stake you chose.

Game rules: A rating per stake

You meet the same player at most 3 times a day, and at most 10 times in any 30 days.

Accounts we have linked are never paired with each other.

Fair-play rules: Linked accounts

Until the game starts, your opponent's card shows only "Verified" and "Within your rating range". It is the same for every opponent.

So nobody can abort a game because of who the opponent is.

The game starts with Black's first move. You see their username, rating, level and games played once you have both made your first move.

An aborted game never shows who the opponent was: it has no receipt, and your game history does not name them.

Playing the computer

Colours

Nobody picks colours. They are drawn from three seeds: one from our server and one from each player's device. Your device sends its seed by itself, right after pairing.

We commit to our seed when you are paired, before we see yours, so we cannot steer the draw.

A public rule puts the two player seeds in order before the draw, so we cannot reorder them after seeing both.

If one device does not send its seed in time, the game is aborted. It is free, but it counts as that player's abort.

If neither device sends its seed in time, the abort is nobody's: it counts for neither player.

Game rules: The abort cooldown

Every receipt carries the colour proof: our seed, its commitment and both players' seeds. Anyone can redo the draw from them.

On a receipt, press "Check this draw". Your browser does the check itself.

Time controls and clocks

We offer 3+2 and 5+0: fast games only, until our fair-play checks are calibrated on real games.

3+2 means 3 minutes each, plus 2 seconds for each move you make after your first.

5+0 means 5 minutes each, with no time added per move.

Our server keeps the clocks. Your screen shows them, but the time that counts is when your move reaches our server.

No clock runs before the game starts. White's clock starts with Black's first move. From then on, the clock of the player to move runs.

The increment goes on your clock after each move you make, from your second move on.

White has 30 seconds for the first move once the colours are drawn. Then Black has 30 seconds for theirs.

Missing it aborts the game. It is free and both stakes come back, but it counts as your abort.

Game rules: The abort cooldown

If your opponent's device misses the colour draw, or your opponent misses the first move, we put you straight back in the queue for the same game.

You keep the time you already waited. This needs you to be still connected, and it does not happen while new games are paused.

Before the game starts

Until Black's first move, either player can abort. Press "Abort", then press it again to confirm.

An abort is free. The game is voided, both stakes come back in full, we take no rake, and ratings do not change. It never counts as a loss.

An aborted game has no receipt. Once Black has moved, the game has started and nobody can abort.

Before Black's first move, resigning is an abort by you: free and never a loss, but it counts toward the abort cooldown.

Draw offers open with Black's first move. Nothing can be won or lost before then.

If you abort 3 or more of your last 10 games, you wait 5 minutes before your next game. Another abort while you are still at that count starts the wait again.

Your own aborts are the abort button, a missed first move, a missed colour seed and a resign before the start. When your opponent aborts, it never counts against you.

An abort with no single player at fault counts for neither player. The lobby shows when you can play again.

These numbers are a first guess, and we will tune them in the beta.

Two players whose game was aborted are not paired with each other again for 10 minutes. Each can meet anyone else at once.

During the game

Our server checks every move: only legal moves count. There are no takebacks and no chat.

Once the game has started, you can resign at any time. You lose the game and your stake. We ask you to confirm first.

From Black's first move on, you can press "Offer draw". Your opponent can accept or decline. If they make a move instead, the offer lapses.

After you offer a draw, you can offer again after 10 more moves, yours and your opponent's together.

If you offer a draw while your opponent's offer is open, the game is drawn.

Checkmate wins the game.

Stalemate, threefold repetition, the fifty-move rule and positions with not enough pieces left to checkmate end the game as a draw at once. Nobody needs to claim them.

If your clock runs out, you lose. The exception: if your opponent has only their king left, it is a draw, because a lone king cannot checkmate.

If your opponent has anything more than a king, even one knight, running out of time is a loss.

Connection

If you lose connection, you have 60 seconds to come back. After that the game ends: you lose, or it is a draw if your opponent has only a king left.

Your clock keeps running while you are away. If it runs out first, you lose on time.

If both players are away, each has their own 60 seconds, and the first to run out loses.

Before the game starts there is no extra time: the colour draw and the first-move deadlines still apply.

The page reconnects by itself, and a reload takes you back to your game where it was.

You can also carry on from another device: sign in there and your game opens.

If ChessPlaza is open in too many tabs or devices, the oldest one pauses until you press "Use this tab".

5 losses on disconnect in clearly lost positions within 30 days open a fair-play review.

Fair-play rules: Who decides

If our server cannot finish a game, the game is voided. Both stakes come back, we take no rake and ratings do not change. Nobody is at fault.

Both players see: "Our server failed during this game. Both stakes are back. No rake was taken." The link to the game's receipt shows a record of the fault instead.

Results and ratings

A game ends in a win, a loss or a draw, and the money is settled at once.

Every game played to a result gets a public receipt: the moves, the result, the money and the rating change. It shows usernames only.

We rate players with Glicko-2. With each rating it keeps an uncertainty, in rating points, which shrinks as you play.

A new player starts at 1000, with an uncertainty of 350. A rating counts as settled once its uncertainty is 110 or less.

Aborted and voided games are not rated.

You have a separate rating at each stake. A game at one stake does not move your rating at another.

Your first game at a new stake starts from your highest settled rating so far, with an uncertainty of 130. Until a rating of yours has settled, a new stake starts at 1000.

Your rating never falls more than 150 points below your highest settled rating.

Pairing uses the higher of your rating and a cautious estimate of the strength you play at, from your last 15 analysed games.

It starts after 5 analysed games. It keeps a strong player from lowering their rating to meet weaker players.

You can link a Chess.com or Lichess account once you prove it is yours. Its history sets your starting rating, with an uncertainty of 150, and unlocks stakes sooner.

Money rules: With a verified chess history