How $CHESS works

$CHESS is a browser chess game on Solana where you play real opponents for real money. Stake the $CHESS token, win the game, and take the pot. This page explains the wagering, the on chain money flow, the fee, the weekly prize, and how the game stays fair.

Overview

Hold $CHESS to play another person. Post a challenge wagering $CHESS, an opponent accepts and matches the wager, and you play real chess until one side wins or the game draws. The winner takes the pot and a 2 percent fee goes to the treasury. Each week the top three players by net winnings split that treasury.

How to play

Connect a Solana wallet, choose a stake and a time control, then post or accept a game. The board is a normal chess board with bullet, blitz, and rapid clocks. You can also play a free game with no wallet and no tokens to learn the flow first.

Wagering

When you post a challenge your stake is held immediately, so every open challenge on the board is fully funded and ready to play. When an opponent accepts, their matching stake is held too and the game begins. You play instantly from your deposited balance, so you can run many wagered games back to back without signing each time.

Escrow and custody

You deposit $CHESS once into a platform balance with a single on chain transfer, verified when it settles. Wagers move between your available balance and escrow as games start and finish, tracked in a double entry ledger where every movement balances to zero. A solvency rule continuously checks that everything owed to players is fully backed by on chain reserves, and if that check ever failed the system would freeze new holds and alert rather than risk balances. You can withdraw your available balance at any time.

Fees

On a decisive game the winner receives the pot minus a 2 percent fee. For two stakes of 1,000 $CHESS, the pot is 2,000 and the winner receives 1,960. On a draw both players keep their stake minus a small fee. A game abandoned before the first move is aborted and both stakes are refunded in full with no fee.

The weekly prize

Every fee collected funds a treasury. Each Monday at 00:00 UTC the top three players ranked by net $CHESS won that week split the treasury 50, 30, and 20 percent. The prize is funded only by the fees actually collected that week, so it is revenue backed and never printed. If there was no revenue, there is no payout.

On chain leaderboard

The weekly standings are computed from the ledger and anchored on chain. The top three prize transfers are visible on Solscan, and the final standings are hashed and posted on chain so anyone can verify them. You get a transparent, checkable record of who won and what was paid.

Token gate

To enter the wagering lobby you hold a minimum amount of $CHESS. Your held balance plus your deposited balance both count toward the gate. This keeps the wagering pool to real participants. Free mode has no gate.

Free mode

Free games never touch the ledger. There is no stake, no fee, and no effect on the weekly prize, so you can practice or play casually with zero risk before you wager.

Fairness and anti cheat

The server is the authoritative referee. It validates every move, owns the clock, and declares the result, so illegal moves and faked results are impossible. Engine assistance is the real threat in any online chess and is addressed with move time and accuracy analysis, rating based matchmaking, holding and account age requirements, and manual review with bans. A short reconnect window protects you from losing a game to a brief disconnect.