System design interview question
"Design an online chess platform. Players are matched by skill, play real-time games with clocks, and the result updates their rating. A million concurrent games, and a player whose connection drops must not automatically lose."
authoritative game state with real-time constraints, plus two problems specific to competitive games: the clock must be fair despite network latency, and the server must be authoritative because clients cheat. Chess is chosen because the rules are simple enough to skip, leaving the systems problems exposed.
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