RELATED: Best Chess Openings That Every Beginner Should Know
Now is a particularly interesting time for chess, as the World Chess Championship is currently taking place between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi. Although the majority of chess takes place over real boards or online on sites like Chess.com and Lichess, there have been a handful of excellent chess video games released over the years.
The majority of these games simply offer a video game iteration of traditional chess, though there have been a few games over the years that have flipped the script and included some other interesting mechanics.
6 Chessmaster 3D
Chessmaster 3D is part of the long-running Chessmaster series, which began in 1986 with The Chessmaster 2000, and has received over ten sequels since. Chessmaster 3D was released on the original PlayStation in 1995 and used the same engine as Chessmaster 4000, which was released on Windows 95 earlier the same year.
The Chessmaster games use various versions of The King engine. The King engine is notable for being able to implement various chess personalities, and the more recent Chessmaster 9000 version was given a 2718 Elo rating from the SSDF.
5 Lego Chess
Before Lego Star Wars was released and Lego’s gaming ventures began life down a different pathway, Lego video games were spread across a range of different genres such as the kart racer Lego Racers, action-adventure Lego Island, real-time strategy Rock Raiders, and, of course, Lego Chess.
RELATED: Tabletop Games More Immersive Than Dungeons & Dragons
Lego Chess does exactly what it says on the tin, offering traditional chess gameplay but with Lego figures taking center stage. The game features a story mode that lets players choose between a pirate or western theme, and although it can be difficult at first to remember which piece is which, the Lego themes are well-designed and make the game a great option for children wanting to learn the board game.
4 Battle Chess
Battle Chess was developed and published by Interplay Productions and is the oldest game on this list. Battle Chess first hit stores in 1988 on the Amiga and was subsequently released on a wide range of systems, including Atari ST, Commodore 64, and NES.
Although it may not seem like much today, the game’s visuals and animations were incredible for the time, earning Battle Chess the accolade of Best Graphics Achievement In A Non-Graphics Product from the Software Publishers Association. Impressively, the 80s animations were good enough to make various references, including a knight vs. knight animation that references the famous black knight fight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Battle Chess received a modern remake in 2015 with Battle Chess: Game of Kings, which is available on Steam.
3 Battle Vs. Chess
Not to be confused with the previous entry, Battle Vs. Chess was originally released by TopWare Interactive in May 2011. Unfortunately for TopWare Interactive, however, Interplay Productions didn’t take too kindly to the name similarity, and TopWare was soon battling a lawsuit for copyright infringement, which resulted in the company having to pay Interplay $200,000 plus interest. The settlement also meant that the game could be released in North America in August 2012, under the new name Check vs. Mate.
The game stands out with its beautiful visuals and surprisingly detailed animations that feel like they’re straight out of a modern RPG.
2 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel
5D Chess with Multiverse Time Travel was released in July 2020 on PC. Prior to its release, many people thought that the game was simply trying to cash in on the “4D Chess” memes, though it soon became clear after its release that 5D Chess with Multiverse Time Travel is one of the best chess variants of all time, exemplified by its Overwhelmingly Positive All Reviews and Recent Reviews scores on Steam.
RELATED: Best Sports Games Of All Time
If for some reason, the endless complexities of chess aren’t head-scratching enough, then Thunkspace’s game provides the perfect solution. 5D Chess with Multiverse Time Travel begins with a traditional game of chess but will soon start branching off into multiple alternative timelines, forcing players to play on multiple boards at a time from the past, present, and future.
1 Chess Ultra
Chess Ultra was released in June 2017 and is available on PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox One, HTC Vive, Oculus, and Nintendo Switch. The game features beautiful 4K visuals and meticulously designed boards, pieces, and rooms where the games take place, making Chess Ultra the best way to play traditional chess today in video game form.
Chess Ultra features multiple AI levels, online play, numerous puzzles and also gives players the chance to revisit classical games and try to think like a grandmaster.
MORE: Great Sports Games That Offer Fun Over Realism
