How to send a chess game link

An invite link is a URL that is already a game. Here is how to make one, what is inside it, and why the one you sent yesterday might not open today.

What a chess invite link is

A chess invite link is a URL that is a game. Opening it puts the other person straight into a board that is already set up the way you chose it — the time control decided, the colours decided, the clock waiting. It exists because the alternative, making somebody sign up and then find you by username, loses most of the people you send it to.

On Reflex Chess

Open the app and choose to challenge a friend.
Pick the pool you want, from 1+0 up to 30+20.
Copy the link it gives you and send it however you like.
They open it, accept, and the board opens for both of you.

The link is good for one game and for 60 minutes. Once somebody has accepted it, it is spent — which is what makes it safe to paste into a group chat where five people can see it. The person opening it does not need an account: they can play as a guest, and only the person making the link needs to be signed in.

The same thing on other sites

Two shapes exist and it is worth knowing which one you are looking at, because they fail differently.

Link-shaped. You create a game, the site hands you a URL, you send it. Lichess and World Chess both work this way, and so does this one. The failure mode is that the link is single-use or has a short life, so a link sent yesterday is often dead today.

Friends-list-shaped. You add somebody as a friend by username or email, they accept, and then you can challenge them from a list. Chess.com's main flow is this one. The failure mode is the reason people search for this at all: it does not work at all until your friend has an account and you know what they called themselves.

Why an invite link stops working

There are only three real reasons, and support forums are full of all three.

Somebody already took it. A link for one game can only be accepted once. If a third person opened it first, that is the game gone.
It expired. An open challenge nobody accepts is a game waiting on a clock that never starts, so links are given a short life on purpose — 60 minutes here. Make a fresh one.
It got mangled in transit. Chat apps wrap long URLs, and a link broken across two lines is a link with half a code. Paste it as one piece.

What should never be in one

A game link is not a credential and should not behave like one. Ours carries a code for a single game and nothing that identifies you, which is why sharing it costs you nothing worse than the wrong person getting a game. If a link you are sent asks you for anything beyond signing in to the site whose name is in the URL, close it.

Make a link and send itChoose a time control, copy the link, paste it into wherever you already talk. Whoever opens it can play without signing up.Make a challenge link

How long does a chess invite link last?

On this site, 60 minutes from the moment it is created, and it is good for one game. Most sites expire them for the same reason: an open challenge nobody accepts is a game waiting on a clock that never starts.

How do I send someone a link to play chess?

Create the game first and send the URL the site gives you. On Reflex Chess: open the app, challenge a friend, pick a time control, copy the link, paste it wherever you talk to them.

Why does my chess invite link not work?

Almost always one of three things: somebody else already accepted it, it expired because nobody accepted it in time, or a chat app broke the URL across two lines and only half of it got pasted.

Can I send a chess link to someone without an account?

Yes. On this site the person opening the link can accept and play as a guest. Only the person creating the link needs a free account, and a game with a guest in it is unrated because there is nowhere to attach a rating.

Is it safe to share a chess game link?

A game link should be a code for one game and nothing else. Ours is, which is why it is fine in a group chat: the worst case is that the wrong person gets the game.