Chess in person
Lay your phone flat between you. Each side of the screen turns toward its player, with its own clock, buttons and pieces facing the right way. Playing on a real board? Set the app beside it as your clock and scoresheet.
How it works
No accounts, no pairing, no passing the phone back and forth. Sit across from each other and play.
Put the phone or iPad on the table between you. Each player gets their own side of the screen.
Two paper hands, one hiding a white pawn and one a black. Player 1 picks a hand. Rematches swap colors.
Only the side to move can touch the pieces, so a stray elbow never ruins the game.
On a real board
Playing on a wooden set? The Tools tab turns your phone into the clock and scoresheet beside it. Tap your half of the clock after each move, then write the move while your opponent thinks.
One button runs the whole game: colors, clock and scoresheet, in order.
Write the game with a notation keypad instead of a pencil. Every move is checked against the position as you type, with suggestions, so the record is always a legal game.
Split screen, with the far half turned toward the far player. Increment, Bronstein delay, and different time for each player when one needs a head start.
The paper-hand draw on its own, for deciding who plays White before any game.
A notation keypad that checks each move. Use it alone, or let the clock ask for each move.
Set up a position from a book or a game, then analyze it or play on against a friend or the computer.
Coming soon: a board scanner that sets up the position from a photo of your board.
Features
Playing a child, or a friend who just learned the moves? Even things out without making it feel like charity.
Touch rules designed for two people leaning over the same glass.
Ten levels, from a gentle first opponent to a real challenge. Ask for a hint when you're stuck, take a move back, and keep an eye on the evaluation bar.
Games save themselves, including the ones you write on the scoresheet. Replay them move by move, and see where the game turned.
Pull off something special and it goes into your collection, frozen at the exact position. Eight cards to find, two of them legendary.
Soft wooden piece sounds and gentle chimes, one per move. Every sound has a matching haptic.
Full VoiceOver support with spoken moves, highlights that don't rely on color, Dynamic Type and Reduce Motion.
1+0 bullet to 15+10 rapid, or untimed. Clocks pause the moment the phone leaves the table.
Devices
The game decides how it behaves, not the hinge. Folding only changes the space you play in.
Unfolded and flat, it's a face-to-face board. Folded, the cover screen is a solo game. Fold during a two-player game and both clocks pause until you open it again.
Lay it flat with players at the short ends. The far panel turns upside down.
The biggest board at the table. Same layout as the unfolded Duo, scaled up.
Our promise
Or bring your own board. Duo Chess – Face to Face is coming soon to the App Store in English, Spanish, Japanese and Russian.