Set your daily line
Games, minutes, or both. Decide before you sit down, while you are still the person who decides well.
For players who know the loop
Play your games. Then actually stop.
You said three games. It is 1am and you are down 40 rating points, still clicking rematch. Chesslimit counts the games you finish and blocks chess when your daily limit is gone.
7-day free trial. $4.99/month or $39.99/year. Requires iOS 16 or later.
Why this is different
It counts games, not screen time.
Every other blocker guesses at how long an app was open, and gets it wrong — which is why their reviews are full of people locked out at 6am for time they never spent. Chesslimit reads the games you actually finished from the public Chess.com API. A game is counted when it ends. Nothing to argue with.
The product
A blocker that understands online chess.
Finished games get counted
Add your Chess.com username. No password, ever — Chesslimit reads only your public game history.
Chess locks itself
iOS Screen Time shields the chess apps and websites you picked. Not a nag screen you can swipe past.
Sleep and work stay yours
Block whole windows — nights, work hours, study time — so the day cannot quietly disappear again.
The important part
You cannot raise your limit mid-binge.
Making a limit stricter applies right now. Making it looser starts tomorrow. That one rule is the whole product: the version of you who wants five more bullet games at midnight does not get a vote on the limit the version of you at 9am chose.
Chesslimit is also honest with you about what it is. A determined person can revoke Screen Time access in iOS Settings, and no app on the App Store can stop that. The point is to put real friction between an impulse and a rematch, not to pretend a lock is a cage.
Inside the app
Three screens, no ceremony.
Your limit, enforced
When the games run out, chess locks itself.
Apps and websites
Pick what gets blocked. iOS does the enforcing.
Focus schedule
No new games during the hours you block off.
Read first
Guides for getting the habit back under control.
Is my chess habit actually a problem?
The honest signs, what the research says about variable rewards, and what to do first.
How to block Chess.com on iPhone
Every method, from Screen Time to deleting your account — with what each one actually costs.
How to stop tilting after a loss
Why losing makes you queue again, and the three interventions that survive contact with tilt.
Should you quit blitz and bullet?
The case for and against, plus a middle path that keeps chess in your life.
Questions
The things people ask first.
Do you need my Chess.com password?
No. Only your username, and only to read your public game history. There is no password field.
How does the blocking work?
Apple's Screen Time (Family Controls) framework — the same system behind parental controls. You choose what it may block, and iOS enforces it below the app layer.
Does it work with Lichess?
It can block the Lichess app and site on a schedule or once your limit is spent. Automatic game counting reads Chess.com today; Lichess counting is next.
What if I need to play for a tournament?
Raise the limit the day before, or turn a schedule off — loosening always takes effect tomorrow, so plan it a day ahead. That delay is deliberate.
Ready
Set your line for tomorrow.
Free to download, 7-day free trial, then $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. iPhone and iPad, iOS 16 or later.