Free and no-frills chess
Mentioned in ~1 in 3 positive reviews
“It's chess. No frills. No gimmicks. No flashing lights and casino bonus rounds. Just simply chess.”
Steam review · 23.6 h played ↗
Simply Chess
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Very Positive · 81%Very Positive · 81%BlueLine Games2015Board Game · Strategy · Casual
The verdict
A bare-bones, free chess game with 100 AI levels and a clean look, but online play is broken or empty and it lacks undo and analysis. Skip it if you want multiplayer or a polished chess experience.
Great for
Solo players who want free, simple chess against a scalable AI, from beginners up
Main risk
Multiplayer errors, crashes or empty lobbies, plus missing basics like undo and analysis
What players love
100 AI levels with gentle progression
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews
“What I like about this game is that the computer can be set to a much lower level than most chess games.”
Steam review · 5.2 h played ↗
Clean look, calm music, customizable boards
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 positive reviews
“Simple graphics. Calm classical music. Instructions if you need them.”
Steam review · 22.8 h played ↗
Strong, challenging AI for practice
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 positive reviews
“Decent chess game. Impossible to beat but you can learn a lot.”
Steam review · 342.2 h played ↗
Works offline, play with friends or locally
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 positive reviews
“+Allows playing free Offline.”
Steam review · 35.3 h played ↗
Ads are short and removable
Mentioned in ~1 in 25 positive reviews
“the adds are only 5 seconds long and in between games”
Steam review · 4.7 h played ↗
What players complain about
Online multiplayer broken or errors
Mentioned in ~1 in 3 negative reviews
“the servers for the online are completley broken. blueline error with LITERALLY every move.”
Steam review · 1.6 h played ↗
Crashes, errors and AI not moving
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“the game crashes, sometimes a handful of turns before you achieve victory.”
Steam review · 15.4 h played ↗
Clunky controls and dated interface
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“Two clicks to move (one to select your piece, one to move). No drag-and-drop option, which is the biggest dealbreaker for me.”
Steam review · 0.6 h played ↗
Online is empty or dead
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 negative reviews
“Impossible to find anyone online to play against.”
Steam review · 0.7 h played ↗
No undo, analysis, notation or move history
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 negative reviews
“Really, a chess program without a take back button in this day and age? Uninstalled!”
Steam review · 1.3 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: UnknownController support300 MB
Minimum
OSWindows XP or better
Processor1 gHz
Memory512 MB RAM
GraphicsOpenGL 2.1+ w/ GL_ARB_framebuffer_object
Storage300 MB available space
Recommended
OSWindows XP or better
Processor2 gHz
Memory1 GB RAM
GraphicsOpenGL 3+
Storage300 MB available space
OSWindows XP or better
Processor1 gHz
Memory512 MB RAM
GraphicsOpenGL 2.1+ w/ GL_ARB_framebuffer_object
Storage300 MB available space
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