How to download chess on PC

Chess, as a board game, is one of the most challenging and complex activities you can do in your free time or if you feel like having a duel with one of your colleagues or college mates. Fortunately, there are a lot of options on your Windows 11/10 PC to play Chess with bots or compete with actual humans, whether friends or online players. You can choose to download a desktop software or a Windows Store app or play online, depending on your preference.

Chess Games for Windows 11/10

Here is a list of some of the best free Chess games for your Windows 11/10 PC. Pick a 3D Chess Game, a desktop freeware, a Windows Store app or play an online chess game.

1. 3D Chess Game

Chess Games for Windows 10

3D Chess Game for Windows 10 is a chess game that takes not a lot of disk space. The 3D graphics have been carefully designed, giving the players a lot of zooms and swivel freedom. The game offers around 25 levels that you can play against bots, increasing difficulty with each level. Do keep in mind that there is no online playing mode as the game is downloadable and can be played without internet access. The game offers performance statistics after every round but the audio is quite unrealistic, and the game is better played on mute. Get it from the Windows Store. You can also check out another 3D Chess game there.

2. Chess

Best Free Chess Games for Windows 10

This interactive chess application is a great game to explore when you have no work in an office or are just trying to pass some time. Pick your difficulty level and see if you can beat the AI as it increases difficulty. You also have the option to undo your move if you make a mistake. Chess records the moves in the standard chess notation and lets you jump to any point in the game. The moves are automatically saved and loaded when you close and reopen the application. The development of the game is assessed in the Evaluation panel – positive values indicate White’s advantage, negative values indicate Black’s advantage. Download it from CNET – the download looks clean by the way!

3. Chess 24

If you want to explore the world of playing chess with multiple players online, whether on your network or across the world, Chess24 offers a great platform for you to do just that. Chess24 is an Internet-only chess gaming website that offers languages including Spanish, English, and German. The biggest aspect of Chess 24 is that it is fully supported and endorsed by big chess grandmasters like Vishwanathan Anand and Peter Svidler. Gaming is not the only aspect of this website. You can also stream and watch major chess events live from anywhere in the world. Chess 24 also lets you improve your game by offering different trainers and practice modes. Click here to visit the website.

4. Chess Time

Chess Time is one of the highest-rated chess game apps on Windows Store. It is available on both Windows 10 and Windows Phone. The best feature of this app is that you can play online with cross-platform users on even Android and iOS at the same time. You can invite friends in for a game or someone random. Your ranking and amount of points are determined by your win-loss ratio. If you enjoy Chess, this is a great way to play the game if you’re ever bored.

5. Lucas Chess

Another free online portal for playing chess is Lucas Chess. The game has 40 engines prepared to play from the start, and with very different levels, from 0 to 3300. This is purely played with the computer and you choose to either train, play with one engine or play with a combination of engines to challenge the best in you. There is also a special mode for young children getting into the game, wherein they will be able to begin their apprenticeship with special engines that know little more than moving the pieces, and this will enable them to win against the engines from the very beginning.

Free Chess is a downloadable simulator of the classic board game, chess. Play alone against the computer, or go head to head with a local friend. Whether you're a novice to the game or a returning chess master, Free Chess is lightweight, downloads quickly, and provides players with the chance to brush up on the oldest strategy game around.

Master the game of kings

Free Chess is an adaptation of the famed board game, and offers little more than what it says on the tin. Some might criticize Free Chess for offering scant features and added nuance, while others will appreciate the product for not taking away the seriousness of the game by adding unneeded glitz. There are other chess variants available if you're looking for a more feature-heavy experience.

Free chess lacks the picturesque backgrounds and attack animations of WJChess 3D which is a more cartoon approach. Rather the features of Free Chess pertain to the core of the game. The only altered aesthetic of Free Chess is an option to switch the default 3D for a simplistic 2D. This makes the game more reminiscent of older digital chess games like BabaChess.

Less distraction, more chess

Free Chess is not devoid of any added features, however; they just won't add anything in the way of customization or flashy visuals. It's even ad-free, unlike competitor 3D Chess. For more beginner players Free Chess also has the option to undo your previous move, as well as a hint button which recommends the next move you can make.

As soon as you start a game in Free Chess there's a display on the left (that can be toggled off) that lists the moves since the game start. Players can choose to copy this transcription at any time during the game, storing it as a text document on their computer. Use this to pinpoint where you went right (or wrong!) in your strategy.

Play any way you want

As soon as you start a new game, Free Chess lets you choose one of ten difficulty levels ranging from Beginner to Impossible. Most players probably won't notice much difference in the top three or four tiers of difficulty, however; even the Easy setting can put up a decent fight. Complete beginners to the game will still be out of luck, unfortunately, as there is no tutorial mode.

In addition to selecting the level of difficulty, the starting screen for Free Chess also lets players choose which side they want to play (white or black). You can also set the computer to battle itself if you just want to spectate and watch sparks fly. Lastly you can set the game for player vs player instead of involving the AI at all.

Unlike BabaChess, Free Chess does not support online multiplayer. Electing to play human vs human simply allows the user local control over both the white and black pieces. While it's disappointing that Free Chess has no online component this human vs human mode can suffice when two people don't have a physical board handy, or if they want to demonstrate a strategy without playing.

Minimalist chess

The sound effects in Free Chess are grating and distracting, sounding more like the ugly alarm tones for a cell phone. Luckily you can turn them off via the game options menu. Here you'll also have a selection of four different languages (English, Spanish, Catalan, and Basque), though there could easily have been more; this is a chess simulator after all; there's not much text involved.

The options menu also allows for users to toggle in-game music on or off. The readme file included with Free Chess links to a free catalogue of classical music that would go nicely with a soothing game of chess. At the time of writing this review, however, the music does not appear to play. It's easy enough to cue up music to play in the background, though, so this isn't too big of a detriment.

Perfect your tactics with this free app

Free Chess is an simple and straightforward chess experience, downloadable in seconds and completely free of charge. Sadly the game is only available on Windows, unlike Chess Free! which is supported on both Windows and Android. If you're looking for a chess game to play on your iPhone, try something like iChess; it's free as well.

Continue your game later

One of the biggest improvements in Free Chess is the new function to save your game. At any time during the match you can click the floppy disk logo and your progress will be saved. The next time you open up Free Chess just click 'load' and you can pick up right where you left off. The caveat, however, is that only one game can be saved at a time, so the next time you hit 'save' your previous save will be overwritten.

Is there a chess app for PC?

Real Chess Online is a chess game that can be played on the PC and Android devices. This game offers 2400 AI levels and a variety of play modes.

Can you download chess com on Windows?

Chess - Play & Learn for Windows 10 Play chess with more than 10 million players around the world.

How can I play chess on my desktop?

To play the computer, just click on the 'vs Computer' button at the top of your home screen: OR, hover over 'Play' or the play icon on the left menu, then select 'Computer': From here, you will be able to select from over 100 different computer personalities to play against, all powered by Komodo!