Swindle

About Swindle

Swindle turns the usual chess puzzle around. Instead of hunting for a mate, you are White in a position that should lose, and your job is to escape with half a point. The game says that on every board exactly one first move forces the draw, and every other legal first move runs into a forced mate within three, a claim it checks with two separate chess engines.

A draw can come three ways: stalemate, where the side to move has no legal move but is not in check; a perpetual check that repeats the position a third time; or so little material left that nobody can mate. Buttons under the board name these routes, and a Hint button is there when you are stuck. Black answers on its own and tries to dodge the draw, and a counter shows how many moves you have left to reach it. Moves cannot be taken back.

Mind Loft publishes Swindle in its End Game set next to Mate, Defend, Gift, Queen and Four. A new position appears at midnight US Eastern Time. Monday starts with a one-move stalemate, the boards grow into longer perpetuals and traps by Saturday, and the Sunday Edition is the deepest draw of the week. Past boards wait in the archive.

It plays free in the browser with no app and no account. You tap a piece and its legal squares light up, so no chess notation is needed. It suits players who know the rules and enjoy the defensive side of chess: stalemate tricks and endless checks rather than attacks.

How to play Swindle

1. Open Swindle on mindloftdaily.com and press Start to see the day's position, White to play.
2. Look for a way to draw: stalemate, a perpetual check, a threefold repetition or bare kings.
3. Tap a white piece to light up its legal squares, then tap the square you want it to go to.
4. Let Black reply, and keep playing toward the draw before the moves-left counter runs out.
5. Reach the draw to solve the day's board; a wrong first move or a mate ends it, since there is no take-back.

Screenshots

Tips

• Count what Black can still do after your move: a stalemate needs Black's king boxed in and every other Black piece unable to move.
• When your own king is nearly stalemated, giving away your last free pieces can leave you with no legal move and a draw.
• Checks with a queen or rook against an exposed king often lead to a perpetual; look for squares the king must shuttle between.
• Monday's board is a one-move stalemate, so start the week there if the format is new to you.

Questions