Zugzwang: Chess Puzzle Alarm
In-app purchases
Everyone
info
10+
Downloads
About this app
What is Zugzwang?
In chess, zugzwang is a position where you are forced to move and every move makes things worse. You are locked in a position with no way out but to do the only thing there is left to do. Sounds familiar? That's literally your alarm clock, every single morning.
And that's exactly what this app does to you. Built for heavy sleepers and chess lovers, Zugzwang won't stop ringing until you find the right move on a real chess puzzle. No snooze button. No swipe to dismiss. No falling back asleep. You can mute the sound for a minute while you think, and you can reveal a solution to learn from it, but revealing the solution loads a fresh puzzle rather than stopping the alarm.
Train your brain, not just your reflexes
When your morning alarm goes off, a chess puzzle appears on screen. This is a genuine tactical puzzle pulled from Lichess, not a made-up position. Find the winning checkmate or material gain and the alarm stops. Get it wrong, and your alarm clock keeps ringing until you get it right.
• 10,000 chess tactics selected from real games in the Lichess open puzzle database.
• Five difficulty levels: Warmup, Easy, Medium, Hard, and Grandmaster.
• Multi-move chess puzzles with automatic opponent replies.
• Reveal the solution to watch the continuation. During an alarm, revealing loads another puzzle rather than dismissing the alarm.
• Practice mode: Sharpen your calculation anytime as an offline chess tactics trainer without setting an alarm.
Built to actually wake you up
A puzzle alarm clock is useless if it doesn't ring reliably. Zugzwang uses Android's exact alarm scheduling, so it fires on time even in Doze mode or after your phone has sat idle for days. It lights up your screen and shows the chessboard directly over your lock screen, so you're not wasting groggy seconds unlocking your phone first.
Alarms you can configure
• Schedule one-off wake-up alarms or repeat them on selected weekdays.
• Choose your alarm sound, vibration, and chess puzzle difficulty.
• Temporarily mute the alarm sound while you calculate your move.
• Configure an option to give up after a chosen number of wrong moves.
• Set the maximum time an unanswered alarm can ring.
Private and 100% offline
All 10,000 chess puzzles are bundled inside the app. No internet connection needed, ever. Your alarms, stats, and solved puzzles stay on your device. Back up and restore everything as a single JSON file, entirely under your control.
Free and no ads
Alarms, all puzzles, unlimited tactics practice, statistics, and backup and restore are completely free with no ads. The Noir board and Cburnett pieces are included. An optional one-time purchase unlocks every board theme and piece set. There is no subscription.
Every move you make either escapes zugzwang or deepens it. Good luck!
Credits
The puzzles come from the Lichess open puzzle database, released under the Creative Commons CC0 dedication:
https://database.lichess.org/
Thank you to Lichess and its community for making this resource available.
Piece artwork is sourced through Lichess, with credits to:
• Cburnett — Colin M.L. Burnett
• Merida — Armando Hernandez Marroquin
• Alpha — Eric Bentzen
• Staunty — sadsnake1
• Chessnut — Alexis Luengas
Zugzwang is an independent app, not affiliated with or endorsed by Lichess.
In chess, zugzwang is a position where you are forced to move and every move makes things worse. You are locked in a position with no way out but to do the only thing there is left to do. Sounds familiar? That's literally your alarm clock, every single morning.
And that's exactly what this app does to you. Built for heavy sleepers and chess lovers, Zugzwang won't stop ringing until you find the right move on a real chess puzzle. No snooze button. No swipe to dismiss. No falling back asleep. You can mute the sound for a minute while you think, and you can reveal a solution to learn from it, but revealing the solution loads a fresh puzzle rather than stopping the alarm.
Train your brain, not just your reflexes
When your morning alarm goes off, a chess puzzle appears on screen. This is a genuine tactical puzzle pulled from Lichess, not a made-up position. Find the winning checkmate or material gain and the alarm stops. Get it wrong, and your alarm clock keeps ringing until you get it right.
• 10,000 chess tactics selected from real games in the Lichess open puzzle database.
• Five difficulty levels: Warmup, Easy, Medium, Hard, and Grandmaster.
• Multi-move chess puzzles with automatic opponent replies.
• Reveal the solution to watch the continuation. During an alarm, revealing loads another puzzle rather than dismissing the alarm.
• Practice mode: Sharpen your calculation anytime as an offline chess tactics trainer without setting an alarm.
Built to actually wake you up
A puzzle alarm clock is useless if it doesn't ring reliably. Zugzwang uses Android's exact alarm scheduling, so it fires on time even in Doze mode or after your phone has sat idle for days. It lights up your screen and shows the chessboard directly over your lock screen, so you're not wasting groggy seconds unlocking your phone first.
Alarms you can configure
• Schedule one-off wake-up alarms or repeat them on selected weekdays.
• Choose your alarm sound, vibration, and chess puzzle difficulty.
• Temporarily mute the alarm sound while you calculate your move.
• Configure an option to give up after a chosen number of wrong moves.
• Set the maximum time an unanswered alarm can ring.
Private and 100% offline
All 10,000 chess puzzles are bundled inside the app. No internet connection needed, ever. Your alarms, stats, and solved puzzles stay on your device. Back up and restore everything as a single JSON file, entirely under your control.
Free and no ads
Alarms, all puzzles, unlimited tactics practice, statistics, and backup and restore are completely free with no ads. The Noir board and Cburnett pieces are included. An optional one-time purchase unlocks every board theme and piece set. There is no subscription.
Every move you make either escapes zugzwang or deepens it. Good luck!
Credits
The puzzles come from the Lichess open puzzle database, released under the Creative Commons CC0 dedication:
https://database.lichess.org/
Thank you to Lichess and its community for making this resource available.
Piece artwork is sourced through Lichess, with credits to:
• Cburnett — Colin M.L. Burnett
• Merida — Armando Hernandez Marroquin
• Alpha — Eric Bentzen
• Staunty — sadsnake1
• Chessnut — Alexis Luengas
Zugzwang is an independent app, not affiliated with or endorsed by Lichess.
Stop your alarm clock by solving a chess tactic when you wake up. No snooze.
Updated on
Safety starts with understanding how developers collect and share your data. Data privacy and security practices may vary based on your use, region, and age. The developer provided this information and may update it over time.
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What’s new
UI polish and improvements
App support
About the developer
Chowdhury Ajmayeen Adil
blasteroverlord10@gmail.com
Road#10, Baitul Aman Housing Society, Adabor, Dhaka
Dhaka 1207
Bangladesh