♟︎ blunderbuss
chess by text, on a clock

Chess with a friend, where stalling is a move.

Set a clock. It starts when you open the game and runs until you move. Let it hit zero and a random legal move gets played for you — no extensions, and once you’ve opened it, no thinking it over for a week.

Start a game

You’ll get a link to send. Open as White and you can play your first move before you send it. Nothing ticks until they open the link and join — and after that, each player’s clock runs from when they open the game, not from when the other one moved.

How it works

  1. 01Set the clockAnything from one minute to three days per move. Pick the pace you actually want to play at.
  2. 02Send the linkPlaying White? Make your first move, then drop the link in Messages. Nothing starts ticking until they open it and join, so a link that sits unread costs nobody anything.
  3. 03Play wheneverYour clock starts when you open the game, not when they moved — so a text you haven’t seen yet costs you nothing, however long it sits. Once you’ve opened it you have one clock, and no more.
  4. 04Run out, and the board decidesA random legal move is played for you, and the game waits for your opponent to open it. It happens on the server, so it happens whether or not anyone has the page open.

Why a clock this rude

A per-move clock keeps a casual game honest. Nobody has time to run the position through an engine, and nobody gets to sit on a losing board for a week. A random move is a real consequence — it just isn’t a loss, so a game survives one.

No accounts, no app required. A game is just a link — anyone holding it can watch, and only the two of you can move.