Chess Now

Chess Now is a Telegram Mini App rather than a classic command-driven bot: open it and you get a proper chess interface built for touch, not a cramped inline board. Start a game, pick a side, and share the invite so a friend, colleague or fellow group member can join; the app keeps the board, move history and turn indicator in sync for both players in real time, and anyone with the link can spectate an ongoing match.

Because it is built as a Mini App, it feels closer to a small standalone chess client than a bot gimmick — the interface has room for a real board, captured pieces and move notation instead of squeezing everything into chat bubbles. That makes it a solid pick if @chess's minimal in-chat experience feels too bare, especially for spectators who want to follow a game without joining it.

It is a smaller, independent project rather than an official Telegram feature: around ten thousand people use it monthly, which is enough to suggest it works reliably but is far from mainstream. There is no rating ladder or random-opponent matchmaking — every game starts from an invite you send yourself.