$12.99Chess Ultra Chess in beautiful rooms
Play the classic board game in hand-crafted sets, against a ten-level AI, other players or VR.
Is Chess Ultra worth it?
Chess Ultra is worth it if…
- you want chess that feels like an evening in a nice room, not a training spreadsheet
- you are learning and want tutorials, puzzles and an AI that grows with you
- you have a headset and want to physically move the pieces
- you enjoy slow, turn-based games where one careless move costs you the queen
Screenshots
A board worth staring at between moves
Most chess programs look like a spreadsheet. This one looks like a room you would actually want to sit in. The lighting in each room tints the pieces and shifts with your camera angle, and each location has its own soundtrack to match the mood. In VR, supported on Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, you reach out with your controllers, lift a knight and set it down yourself, and stand up to lean over the board when the position gets tight.
Ways to play beyond a plain match
The AI comes in ten levels, from novice to Grandmaster-approved, so you can find a setting that fights back without crushing you. In-depth tutorials teach openings and mating patterns, and over 80 puzzles ask you to force mate within a set number of moves; some will sit in your head for days. There is also history to rewrite: ten of the biggest historic matches, replayed from the position where the greats went wrong, with you holding the winning side this time. When you are done, export the game as PGN and take it to an analysis tool to see exactly where it turned. Online there are Classical, Blitz and Marathon time controls, an ELO ranking, cross-platform play, leaderboards, and official tournaments you can enter or just watch. Twitch integration lets your community take you on.
