Armageddon
Armageddon is a sudden death tiebreak game in which White receives more time than Black, but Black wins the game if it ends in a draw, so that exactly one player can come out ahead.
Also called: sudden death playoff
An Armageddon game is played once to decide a tie, usually after the regular and rapid or blitz tiebreak games have failed to separate the players. It cannot end with a shared result. White is given more time on the clock, commonly five minutes against four for Black, and Black is given draw odds, which means a drawn game counts as a win for Black.
The bargain is simple. White has the extra time and the first move, but must actually win. Black can play more solidly, trade pieces and aim for a safe draw, since a draw is enough. Before the game the players often bid or draw lots to decide who chooses the color, and some events let a player bid how little time they would accept in order to take Black.
You meet Armageddon at the end of knockout matches, team events and online finals. It is stressful, because the clock decides far more than in normal chess, so it rewards practice with quick, accurate play under pressure. Time handling, a sound endgame and a calm head matter more than deep preparation here.
Also worth reading is Rapid playoff. A rapid playoff is a short extra game or mini match, played at a faster time control, that decides the winner after players tie in a tournament or match.
It sits close to Sudden death. Sudden death is a time control in which each player has one fixed amount of time for the whole game, with no extra time added, so a player whose clock reaches zero loses on time.
Also worth reading is Three-check chess. Three-check chess uses the normal rules with one added way to win: the first player to put the opposing king in check three times wins at once, in addition to winning by checkmate.
If "Armageddon" is the format you play most, the improvement plans by rating band give a weekly routine for your rating range.
Related terms
Sudden death is a time control in which each player has one fixed amount of time for the whole game, with no extra time added, so a player whose clock reaches zero loses on time.
A rapid playoff is a short extra game or mini match, played at a faster time control, that decides the winner after players tie in a tournament or match.
A tiebreak is a rule that ranks players who finish on the same score, either by a calculation from the results or by extra games, so that the final standings can be published.
A time control is the rule that sets how much thinking time each player gets in a game, and whether extra time is added per move, which decides what kind of chess is being played.
Blitz chess is a fast format where each player has about three to ten minutes for the whole game, so decisions rely heavily on pattern recognition and quick tactics.
A chess clock is a pair of linked timers of which only one runs at a time; after each move a player presses their side to stop their own time and start the opponent's.
Guides that go further
See whether a base time and increment counts as bullet, blitz, rapid or classical.
Average chess rating and a good chess rating
What share of active Lichess players are rated above 800, 1200, 1500, 1800 or 2000, by time control.
What a rating measures, how FIDE, Lichess, US Chess and chess.com compute theirs, and why the numbers differ.
Want to spot this in your own games?
A first lesson starts with your games: George reviews them and builds a study plan around what he finds.