One phone. Two players. One table.
Duo Chess is chess in person. Lay your phone or iPad flat between you: each side of the screen turns toward its player, with its own clock, buttons and pieces facing the right way. No accounts, no pairing, no passing the phone back and forth. Playing on a real board? Set the app beside it as your clock and scoresheet.
FACE TO FACE
• Draw for colors with two paper hands, one hiding a white pawn and one a black. Rematches swap colors.
• Only the player whose turn it is can move pieces. Palms and fingers resting near the edge are ignored, so a stray elbow never ruins the game.
• Undo is a request: it appears on your opponent's side and pauses both clocks.
• Resigning takes a deliberate press and hold.
ON A REAL BOARD
Playing on a wooden set? The Tools tab turns your phone into the clock and scoresheet beside it. One button runs the whole game: draw colors, tap your half of the clock after each move, and write the move while your opponent thinks. The game is saved like any other, ready to replay or share.
• Clock: split screen, with the far half turned toward the far player. Increment, Bronstein delay, and different time for each player.
• Scoresheet: a notation keypad that checks every move against the position as you type, with suggestions, so the record is always a legal game.
• Color draw: the paper-hand draw on its own, before any game.
• Position editor: set up a position from a book or a game, then analyze it or play on against a friend or the computer.
A FAIR GAME FOR EVERYONE
Playing a child, or a friend who just learned the moves? Even things out without making it feel like charity.
• Presets: Even game, Parent and child, Club vs. casual, or Custom
• Different time on each clock
• Piece odds: start without a queen, a rook or a knight
• Helpers for one player only: threatened pieces, legal moves, takebacks
PLAY THE COMPUTER
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.
EVERY GAME SAVED, EVERY GAME EXPLAINED
Games save themselves. Replay them move by move, see the evaluation graph, mistakes, blunders and turning points, and share any game as PGN, an image of the final position or a short GIF.
COLLECT RARE MOVES
Pull off something special and it goes into your collection, frozen at the exact position: smothered mate, double-check mate, pawn checkmate, knight promotion, promotion mate, queen sacrifice, and the legendary castling mate and en passant mate.
REAL CHESS CLOCKS
1+0 bullet to 15+10 rapid, or untimed. Clocks pause the moment the game leaves the screen.
MADE FOR FOLDABLES, GREAT EVERYWHERE
Unfolded and flat, iPhone Duo is 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. On other iPhones, players sit at the short ends; on iPad, you get the biggest board at the table.
ACCESSIBLE FROM DAY ONE
Full VoiceOver support with spoken moves, highlights that don't rely on color, Dynamic Type and Reduce Motion. Soft wooden piece sounds, each with a matching haptic.
PAY ONCE, KEEP IT
Duo Chess is free to play in every mode, with no ads and no tracking. The one-time Duo Chess Pro upgrade unlocks your whole game history to replay, full analysis of every game, unlimited hints against the computer, and iCloud sync of your games across your devices. No subscription.
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