Play chess with a friend. One link, no sign-up.

Chess with a friend shouldn’t start with a sign-up form

You want to play chess with one particular person: a friend, your brother, the colleague who keeps bragging. On many chess sites that means two accounts, two passwords and a round of friend requests before the first move. On BeatMe it means one link. Type your name, tap Start, and send the link in WhatsApp, iMessage, Telegram or any chat. Your friend taps it and the board is there, in the browser, on any phone, tablet or computer. Nobody signs up, nobody installs anything.

The invite carries your name, so your friend knows who is challenging them. Play live, with every move appearing at once, or one move at a time over a couple of days: the link stays open for 48 hours after the last move. When the game is over, the rematch is on the same link, colours swap, and the series score keeps count.

The full rules, not a toy version

• Castling on both sides, and never out of, through or into check.
• En passant, right after the double step and only then.
• Promotion to a queen, rook, bishop or knight, with an auto-queen switch for speed.
• Check, checkmate and stalemate, worked out after every move.
• Automatic draws: threefold repetition, the fifty-move rule and positions where nobody can mate. Running out of time against a lone king is a draw too.
• Draw offers and resigning, like over the board.

Every move is checked on our server, so an illegal move simply can’t be played, by either side.

Clocks for blitz players

Bullet 1 + 0 and 2 + 1, blitz 3 + 0, 3 + 2 and 5 + 0, rapid 10 + 0 and 15 + 10, with Fischer increment. The clock runs on our server and starts once both sides have made their first move, so a challenge can wait for your friend. Under ten seconds it shows tenths, and a sound warns you when your time runs low.

Premoves let you queue your next move while your friend thinks; it’s played the moment it’s your turn, if it’s still legal. A small allowance per move evens out slow connections.

Time odds, the park bench classic: give your friend a head start by taking half or a fifth of the time yourself. Five minutes against one, and see if they can still beat you.

Live now, or one move at a time

Not everyone has the same ten free minutes. Without a clock, the game waits: make your move in the morning, find the answer at lunch. If you’re both online, every move appears live and the page tells you when it’s your turn, even in a background tab.

Made for phones and chats

The board fills a phone screen, pieces are big enough for thumbs, and the move list, captured pieces and material count sit right below. Flip the board, step back through the moves, and copy the game as PGN to study it in any chess program. Friends can watch the game live through the same link.