Multiplayer Chess

What are offline challenges?

“Offline Challenge” is the name we chose for correspondence chess. You can read a detailed how-to on correspondence chess.

How do I play correspondence chess in SparkChess?

Use the new Offline Challenge mode.

How do I delete my multiplayer account?

The fastest and most secure way to delete your multiplayer account is from SparkChess. Select Challenge → Multiplayer, log in, select a playing area, click Account → Delete and enter your password for confirmation before clicking the Delete button.

The accounts are deleted immediately. If the deleted account was owning a team, the team is deleted as well. Leaderboards may take up to one hour to update.

Deleted accounts are generally not recoverable. If you deleted your account by mistake and are a premium player, we may be able to recreate your account, so please contact us.

The game history is not deleted.

Once an account is deleted, the username becomes available to be reused.

If for some reason you’re unable to access your account, please contact us with your username and request that we manually delete your account. Please note that we may need to perform extra checks to verify your identity.

Does SparkChess multiplayer support crossplay?

Yes. We don’t rely on any closed platform for multiplayer or leaderboards and we own our entire tech stack. As such, users can play with each other regardless of the platform they’re on – PC users can play with Mac users, Android devices can play with iPhones, and so on.

Can I connect to Multiplayer if I’m using Tor or a VPN?

Now why in the world would you want to do that? Joking.

Short answer: It depends.

SparkChess Multiplayer requires WebSockets to connect. Sockets allow fast, near-instant communication and are used by most messaging apps and games. We used to support an HTTP fallback mode, but we removed it in 2018 because few players needed it and it lacked performance.

Back to VPNs, you need to check if your connection supports sockets. In our tests, we had no problems accessing the SparkChess website and multiplayer service via Tor and OpenVPN.

If you have problems with your VPN/Tor, you should disable it for SparkChess. We do not track our players and we do not block anyone. We are also not aware of any country blocking or tracking SparkChess.

What is Guest Login?

When accessing the multiplayer service, there is an alternative “Guest login” option. We added this feature many years ago when we realized that some players wanted to get a taste of multiplayer without having to spend time setting up an account.

Note: Setting up an account is very straightforward, just enter your nickname, email (for password recovery) and password and you’re in!

Guest accounts are ephemeral. They start with 800 points and their progress is not saved. They have no stats or game history, they can not join or manage teams and have no access to chat.

Only use the Guest login if you are new to SparkChess and want to see how multiplayer works.

Are multiple accounts allowed in multiplayer?

Multiple multiplayer accounts are allowed but not encouraged. We recognize that there are legitimate reasons for players to have more than one account. However, using multiple accounts to inflate your score or for other nefarious purposes is not allowed, and such accounts may be removed without warning.

What are playing areas?

After logging into multiplayer mode, you will be presented with a list of playing areas from which you must select (enter) one in order to play.

Playing areas are also called “lobbies” in multiplayer games. Simply put, they are virtual gathering places where players can meet and challenge each other. Playing areas can have some restrictions, for example, one of them is reserved for new players.

Upon entering a playing area, you will see a list of available players. When you click on a player’s name in the list, you invite them to play. Or you can simply wait until you are invited.