Staked chess · head to head

The board
is set.

A real opponent. A real stake. Locked on-chain before move one — win the board, take it home.

Boards waiting

Sit down. Stakes lock. Play.

The ladder

WagerMate ELO · everyone starts at 1000

How a match works

1
Set the table
Name your stake, or take a seat at one that's waiting. Same stake on both sides — no haggling.
2
Locked before move one
Both stakes lock into the on-chain smart contract before the first move — each side has 24 hours to fund. Mid-game, nobody can touch them. Not us. Not anyone. A board that never funds cancels itself and sends your deposit right back.
3
Take it home
Checkmate, resignation, or a 72-hour walk-away — the board decides, the contract pays, the winner takes it all. A draw sends both stakes home. Skill is the only odds.
The smart contract can do two things:
pay the winner, or send both stakes home.
Nothing else. Ever.

House rules

I

Locked before move one

Fund within 24 hours, before the first move. No funded board, no game. If it never funds, the board cancels and deposits come right back.

II

The winner takes it home

Checkmate, resignation, or a 72-hour walk-away. The board decides, the contract pays — both stakes, straight to the winner.

III

A draw sends both stakes home

Stalemate, threefold repetition, the fifty-move rule, or too few pieces to mate — both stakes go back in full. Minus nothing.

IV

Exact match or no match

One board, one stake, matched exactly. No haggling at this table.

V

One mind per side

No engines, no advice, no second pair of hands. Rated chess is your own mind or nothing.

VI

Rated means rated

Every staked board moves your ELO — everyone starts at 1000. Bot games are free practice: never rated, never staked.

VII

An abandoned game is a resignation

Rated matches run on a 72-hour move clock — the only clock here until blitz and rapid arrive. Let it run out and your opponent claims the board. That's a loss, on the board and on the books.

VIII

Your wallet, your keys

We never hold your money. Stakes move from your wallet to the contract, and from the contract to the winner. We can't touch them in between — the contract won't let us.

Standard chess rules on every board. Every result, stake, and payout is recorded on-chain — anyone can verify. Gas fees apply to deposits. Test tokens — no real value.

Every stake locked in an on-chain smart contract · skill, not chance Bot practice is always free · every ladder starts at 1000 Transparency: the contracts, the ledger, and how to verify them