Chess and checkers · 16 variants · learn and play
Learn it.Then play every board.
Chess, Chess960, Crazyhouse, American and International checkers and more, with opponents from about 400 to 2800, lessons that teach before they quiz, and a World Tour across eight venues. Play solo, online with friends, or around one table with everyone on their own phone.
iPhone and iPad · iOS 17 or later · No account · No ads
What it does
Sixteen variants, one app
Eight kinds of chess and eight sets of checkers rules, each played by its own rules.
- 01
Chess, and six more ways to play it
Standard chess and Chess960, plus Crazyhouse, Three-Check, King of the Hill, Atomic, Antichess and Horde. Play bullet, blitz, rapid, classical, untimed or set your own clock.
- 02
Checkers, the way your family plays it
American and English, International 10×10, Russian, Brazilian, Italian, Spanish, Turkish and Pool. Forced captures, flying kings and men that move sideways, each exactly as that rule set says.
- 03
Casual or rated
Casual games have hints, takeback and a show-threats view. Rated games turn them off, and the result moves your rating. Five placement games set your starting point.
What it does
Opponents who play like people
- 01
A rated ladder
Opponents from about 400 to 2800 and up, so there is always someone at your level and always one more rung above.
- 02
Mistakes that look human
At every level below the top, the bots miss what people miss: a hanging piece, a rushed endgame, a forgotten capture. They do not just play random moves.
- 03
Twelve named characters
Each has a rating, a style, a favourite opening and something to say, from gambit lovers to endgame grinders. Each venue ends with one as the boss.
The World Tour
A campaign across eight venues, from a stone table in the park to a space station, each with its own board, pieces and boss. Win matches, earn up to three stars apiece, and climb toward a finale. Each venue is hand-made, and the pieces change with the place.
Learn it properly
Lessons teach a step on a live board and then quiz only what was taught, with checkpoints and a test-out if you already know it. There are no streaks and no hearts. Paths cover the basics, tactics, strategy, openings and endgames, checkers, and a quick start for every variant. Practise with rated puzzles, themed drills and Puzzle Rush.
A review of every game
After a game, see each move graded from best to blunder, an accuracy score and the key moments, then retry a moment or replay the game. Plain-English explanations and a share card come with it.
Something new every day
A daily chess puzzle and a daily checkers puzzle, the same for everyone, with a Game Center leaderboard.
With friends: online, by mail and Table Night
Play live or by correspondence through Game Center, and get a nudge when it is your move. On one device, pass-and-play with a clock. Table Night turns an iPad or TV into the board while each phone is a controller, with no accounts and no internet needed, and teams can vote on a move.
On-device intelligence
On iPhones with Apple Intelligence, opponents get table talk, game review is explained in plain English and you can describe a player and have the app build them. It runs on your device, it is optional, and Chess Extreme plays the same without it.
Free to start, no ads
Every variant and rule set is free to play against opponents up to about 1600, with the City Park and Front Porch venues, four characters, the first chapter of the World Tour, a quick-start unit in each learning path, ten puzzles a day plus the daily puzzle, one full game review a day, online play, pass-and-play and joining a Table Night. The Full Game is a one-time purchase that opens the whole ladder, the rest of the World Tour, every learning path, the openings explorer and endgame drills, unlimited puzzles and review, hosting Table Night and the player creator. Venue packs and character packs add more, and everything works with Family Sharing. No subscriptions, no ads, no tracking.
The full Chess Extreme privacy policy
Effective October 6, 2026. Plain English, no defined terms you need a lawyer for.