Description
Checkmate Chess is a chess app for your phone where games are played to classical music. The board itself highlights valid moves and possible captures. You can play in two ways: in rated online matches against opponents from different countries, or against the computer, where no points are awarded and there's no need to rush. It suits both a beginner who still gets confused by knight moves and an experienced player looking to raise their ELO higher.
How a match goes
Online games are timed, with three formats. Classic gives 10, 20, or 30 minutes. In Blitz, a match is allotted 3 or 5 minutes, and there's also a 3-minute option with a 2-second increment per move. Bullet is designed for those who think the fastest: 1 minute, 1 minute + 1 sec/move, and 2 minutes + 1 sec/move. At this pace, premove helps a lot: a response is set in advance and triggers right after the opponent moves. You can view the move history right during the game, and the last move and check to the king are marked. The computer opponent is easy to tailor to your level, with 16 strength levels, from 600 to 2100 on the ELO scale. And if you want to play with friends, you just need to send them an invitation.
What makes it stand out among other chess apps
The app knows more than 3000 openings with variations and labels them as the game progresses, whether it's the Sicilian Defense, Queen's Gambit, Caro-Kann Defense, Italian Game, or French Defense. Tactical puzzles have their own separate section, with more than 500,000 of them. There's mate in 1, 2, and 3 moves, perpetual check, endgame, pin, fork, skewer, and sacrifice. Solve quickly, and you get a speed bonus. Your position in the overall and national rankings is made up of ELO, the number of online wins, and points for puzzles, and you can check your standing at any time.
Design and convenience
There are 21 board variants here and 16 piece sets. The theme can be light or dark, and the interface is made in the Material Design 3 style. Sounds are accompanied by vibration, and the profile gathers statistics and lets you change your avatar. The online mode is built on Firebase Firestore, so matches don't glitch even when there are many players. No payment is required: download it and get straight to the board. You can download Chess online and offline for Android as an APK file on this page.
