chessbet

How chessbet works

Virtual funds only

Every balance on this platform is virtual credit. No real money is accepted, held, or paid out, and credit cannot be withdrawn. New accounts open with R1000 in credit; an administrator can issue more.

Staking a game

Each table has a fixed stake. When you join a table that stake leaves your balance at once and is held in escrow, belonging to neither player while the game runs. If no opponent is found the hold expires and your credit returns.

Pairing

You are paired with another player waiting at the same table. Pairing begins with players close to your rating and widens the longer you wait.

The game itself

Games run on Lichess's open-source server, which is the sole authority on legality, the clock, and the result. We do not adjudicate chess.

Settlement

• A win pays the whole pot to the winner, less the table's fee.
• A draw returns both stakes, less the draw fee. A draw costs less than a decided game, but not nothing: a free draw would make agreeing one every time a costless way to occupy a table.
• An abort returns both stakes in full and charges nothing. A game resigned before either player has moved is aborted, not lost.
• A void by an administrator returns both stakes in full, and is recorded with a reason.

Each table shows its fees before you join.

Ratings

Ratings are Glicko-2, calculated by Lichess, starting at 1500. A rating marked ? is provisional: too few games for it to be reliable. Very short or very fast games may go unrated, because Lichess declines to rate games that fit the shape of rating manipulation.

Fair play

Fair play is enforced by Lichess's own system, not by us. Lichess declines to rate games that fit the shape of rating manipulation, and its cheat-detection tooling assesses games using engine analysis and move-time behaviour. We act on what it reports: we may restrict staking on an account, void a game, or reverse credit obtained through collusion or engine assistance.

Records

The moves, the clock behind every move, the result, and every credit movement are recorded and kept for each game. You can review any of your own games from the Games page.

Administration

Administrators can issue credit, void games, and restrict accounts. Every such action is written to an audit log with the administrator, the reason, and the time.

This is a test deployment operating on virtual credit. It is not a licensed gambling service and nothing here is an offer of one.