Piece of CakeIn version 1.4 · available now on iOS and Android
Chess
The oldest game at the table, properly done. Full standard rules, a board you can actually read, and a clock only if you want one — play it out in ten minutes or over ten days.
How Chess plays
- Checkmate to win. Trap the enemy king so it is attacked and has no legal escape. That ends the game on the spot.
- Only legal moves are offered. Tap a piece and its legal squares light up. You cannot move into check, leave your king in check, or play yourself into an illegal position — the board simply will not let you.
- All the special moves. Castling on both sides, en passant, and promotion — tap to choose queen, rook, bishop or knight when a pawn reaches the last rank.
- Draws are called for you. Stalemate, threefold repetition, the fifty-move rule and insufficient material are all detected automatically, so a drawn game ends as a draw rather than shuffling on.
- Or offer one. Tap Offer draw and your opponent accepts or declines — making a move declines it too. Only one offer can be outstanding at a time.
- Colours are drawn at random. White always moves first, but sides are dealt when the game starts, so a rematch on the same table usually swaps you over.
The full rules live under Profile → Rules → Chess. Every move is validated server-side, so it’s structurally impossible to cheat.
A clock, if you want one
Piece of Cake games are asynchronous by design — a table can sit for days while everyone gets on with their lives. So chess starts untimed, and a clock is something you opt into when you create the table.
When you do, it’s a tournament-standard Fischer increment clock: each side starts with a set time, your clock runs only on your own turn, and the increment is added back after every move you make. Run out and you lose on time — unless your opponent has no way to checkmate you, which is a draw.
No clock
The default. Take a turn now, take the next one tomorrow. Nobody loses a game to a meeting overrunning.
Blitz 5|3
Five minutes each, three seconds back per move. For when you’re both sat in the app together and want it over with.
Rapid 15|10 · Classical 60|30
A proper thinking game, at club or tournament pace.
Daily 3 days +1
Correspondence chess. Three days on the clock, a full day added back with every move you play.
See it in action
Never short an opponent
Chess needs exactly two, and the second one isn’t always around. Add an AI opponent from the table settings and play whenever you like — it plays a real game, and it will accept a draw when it judges itself to be worse off.
Or send a join link in any chat app and let a friend take the seat instead. Between games, tap Rematch to go again with the colours reshuffled.
Play it now
Chess shipped in version 1.4 and is in the app today, on the same subscription as every other game in the catalogue.