Zugzwang: Chess Puzzle Alarm

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. 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 loads a fresh puzzle rather than stopping the alarm. How it works When your alarm goes off, a chess puzzle appears on screen. This is a genuine puzzle pulled from Lichess, not a made-up problem. Find the right moves and the alarm stops. Get it wrong, and it keeps ringing until you get it right. • 10,000 real tactics sourced from Lichess, spanning beginner to master-level ratings • Five difficulty tiers: Warmup, Easy, Medium, Hard, and Grandmaster • Truly stuck? Reveal the solution and watch it play out — though the alarm keeps ringing until you actually solve a new one • Not in the mood to solve one today? You can also configure an option to give up after you fail to solve the tactic a certain number of times. Built to actually wake you up A puzzle alarm 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 puzzle directly over your lock screen, so you're not wasting groggy seconds unlocking your phone first. Train your brain, not just your reflexes • Practice mode: solve puzzles anytime, no alarm required • Streaks and stats built from your real solve history, so you can track your accuracy and progress over time • Five classic piece sets (Cburnett, Merida, Alpha, Staunty, Chessnut) and five board color themes to make the board your own PRIVATE AND OFFLINE All 10,000 puzzles are bundled in 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. Every move you make either escapes zugzwang or deepens it. Good luck!