Armageddon
A single decisive tiebreak game in which White receives more time but must win, while Black receives less time but only needs a draw to win the match.
Armageddon games are used to guarantee a winner without extending a match indefinitely, and the time and color assignment can be fixed or decided by a bidding auction between the players.
Etymology
Armageddon is a biblical name: English has it from 1811, from Hebrew Har Megiddon meaning Mount of Megiddo, the site named in Revelation 16:16 as the scene of the final apocalyptic battle. Chess applies the name to a decisive tiebreak game that cannot end in a draw, because the format guarantees a winner. Wikipedia's Fast chess article and the Glossary of chess define the format by draw odds: Black receives less time than White but wins the match if the game is drawn, so White must win outright. Chess.com's terms page gives typical allocations such as five minutes against four in blitz or ten against eight in rapid, and describes bidding variants where players bid how much time they will give up to take Black. The German Wikipedia article explains the name as a reference to the biblical Harmagedon, the final decisive battle, and documents uses including the 2008 World Championship regulations, Norway Chess 2019, the 2020 Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour final and the 2022 Chess960 World Championship. Neither Chess.com nor German Wikipedia states when the format was first used, and neither could confirm a first documented chess use.
First documented: n.a. — n.a. - de.wikipedia states no first use is given; documented uses include the 2008 World Championship tiebreak regulations and Norway Chess 2019
Translations
Translations for this term haven't been added yet.