Ultimate Chess

Game Description: Play chess against the computer in this entertaining, and uniquely animated chess game.

How to Play Ultimate Chess:

• Click the 'Play' button.
• Your chess pieces are the white pieces at the bottom of the board.
• The computer's chess pieces are the black pieces at the top.
• White, that's you, always takes the first turn. After that, play alternates between you and the computer.
• Standard chess rules apply. (If you have never played chess before you can click the 'chess rules' button on the main menu. Ultimate Chess provides a rather entertaining explanation of how to play chess. Yes they do add a lot of fluff and silliness, but they also do a rather good job of explaining what chess is all about).
• To move one of your pieces first click on the piece you would like to move. Then, to complete your move, click on the space where you would like to move to.
• When you click on one of your chess pieces you are not committed to moving that piece. If you should change your mind, simply click on a different piece.
• If you are not happy with the outcome of your move, simply take it back by hitting the 'undo turn' button.
• Ultimate Chess does allow castling both on the queen's side and on the king's side. If you are not sure what castling is all about you can click the 'chess rules' button on the main menu and then click the 'next page' button 8 times in succession. On the page titled 'Castling' Ultimate Chess will give you a full explanation of castling and even show you how it's done.
• Ultimate Chess also recognizes the en passant capture. If you are not familiar with the en passant move you can click the 'chess rules' button on the main menu and then click the 'next page' button 7 times in succession. On the page titled 'En Passant' Ultimate Chess will give you a full explanation of this special move and even show you how it's done.
• A stalemate occurs if a player has no legal moves and is not in check. (If you would like to see an example of a stalemate you can click the 'chess rules' button on the main menu and then click the 'next page' button 12 times in succession. On the page titled 'Stalemate' Ultimate Chess will give you a clear example along with a full explanation).
• Ultimate Chess does not recognize the standard draw rules of threefold repetition or the fifty-move rule. But if you would like to learn a little more about these draw rules, just for the sake of learning, you can click the 'chess rules' button on the main menu and then click the 'next page' button 13 times in succession. This will take you to the page titled 'Other Possible Endings' where you can read more about this.

Ultimate Chess Playing Tips:

• The bishops and pawns, although they are not identical looking, they do look similar enough to get them confused if you do not look carefully. Remember this. The bishops have pointed hats, while the pawns have a round shape at the top of their hats. Also, the bishops have a full beard and the pawns only have a moustache.

Richard's Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pro: Click on one of your chess pieces and it talks to you. I mean, how clever is that? Whenever a piece is captured, either by you or by your opponent, you will see a brief and entertaining animation. (There are 50 different animations in all). Yes, Ultimate Chess is quite unusual and certainly entertaining. But in addition to all of its theatrics it also produces a decent game of chess. It certainly is not of the caliber of Spark Chess (my toughest computer chess game, to date, that I have here on Richard's Game Reviews) but it is infinitely better than Flash Chess (probably the easiest computer chess game I have on my site). Although the computer will sometimes make blunders and is relatively easy to defeat, if you are an average chess player (I am not really sure what average means in regards to chess) Ultimate Chess should probably give you at least a decent challenge and provide a lot of fun along the way.

Con: Unlike most computer chess games Ultimate Chess does not light up the board when you click on a piece and show you all possible moves. If you are an experienced chess player you will not need, or miss, this feature. But, if you are new to chess, not having this feature is going to make it somewhat hard to play until you gain a little experience.