# Checkmate or Die — user reviews > 42 indexed App Store user reviews of Checkmate or Die by Chess.com, LLC, rated 2.74/5 from 46 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/checkmate-or-die/id1605177639/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/checkmate-or-die/id1605177639.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 8 · 4★ 3 · 3★ 13 · 2★ 13 · 1★ 9 ## Newest reviews (15 of 42) ### 3/5 — fix problem *2024-04-13, version 1.011* level 23 … won’t let you make 2nd move for mate ### 3/5 — Puzzles *2022-12-30, version 1.011* Good concept, rough around the edges. If you want to improve at chess, just play Chess.com puzzles, not this. Kinda fun, 3/5. ### 3/5 — A good concept *2022-11-18* I love the concept of this game. It puts an interesting twist on chess puzzles by making them more engaging. I honestly was having a lot of fun playing this game during the early stages. It is once I get to around level 30 when I am solving mates in 3. There really is not enough time to analyze the position. There are just so many things that need calculated in such little time that is not very fun anymore. What I would is give players the opportunity to click an analyze button on screen when you start the level and then you can calculate the mate. Which also pause the zombies to make it fair. ### 3/5 — Game mechanic needs work *2022-10-06* Assuming you want a fun way to learn how to scan the board quickly for mate options, the game falls down by not allowing you sufficient time to learn from failed attempts. Once you’re out of coins you’re stuck failing quickly over and over, but not gaining the knowledge you need to improve. Lots of comments talk about variants of this issue. Hopefully it’ll get fixed so it’ll be more enjoyable and worthwhile. So close. ### 3/5 — Not a great game, pretty fun though *2022-10-06, version 1.0* This game is too predictable, I got faster by just taking a bishop or queen to the spot closest to king, or a back rank checkmate. Wish there was more focus on accuracy and learning than moving an extremely slow person down a path as fast as possible. Good idea/concept though, room to build on it for sure. I will continue playing just because of how much I support chess.com, hope there will be more to this game in the future. ### 3/5 — Juvenile *2022-10-06* It feels like a kids game with the animation and simple mating patterns right off the bat. That isn’t a bad thing but having been advertised as a game meant for all its a little disappointing playing the game as an adult. I wish there were more learning value as someone that’s not just starting. Definitely good for someone starting chess though. ### 3/5 — Cool concept! Needs more time to think on later levels *2022-10-06* I really love the idea behind this game. It started off really fun, and I like how the levels were initially easy and then grew in difficulty, that makes total sense. However, I am on level 30 now, and the zombies are eating my character before I even look at the whole board, much less take the time to make three moves on the board for a check mate. More time to look at the board would be nice, especially on later levels. You could balance the difficulty by having the zombies speed up on a wrong move. Losing a level when I know the answer but don’t have time to move the pieces is very frustrating. ### 3/5 — The time needs difficulty leveling *2022-10-05* The first few levels are pretty easy to get through. Just simple mate in ones, twos, and a couple threes. After the first couple of mate in 3 levels however, it becomes extremely difficult to analyze the board in the 5-10 seconds we have. I think the game definitely needs an easy, normal, and hard mode in it’s time speed. I feel like that would make the game more accessible by both low rated and high rated players. Right now tho, i feel like the game works against low rated players and favors more high rated ones. ### 3/5 — feels sluggish - needs more customization *2022-10-05* animations feel sluggish, need a way to speed up the movement, less animation and effects for the pieces. needs more levels, and more variation in puzzle, maybe, puzzles where your goal is to win material instead of checkmate aswell, such as "win the queen in x moves" as another mode would help ### 3/5 — Where’s the tutorial? *2022-10-04* I could have used a little more explanation of its features — the app not the chess. ### 2/5 — Too easy *2022-10-04* Too easy, should have more than just mate in 1 ### 3/5 — Username and leaderboard *2022-10-04, version 1.0* You can do chesscom username - that wud be easy i guess ### 2/5 — Fun idea, poor implementation. *2022-10-04* Pieces are not standard or easily distinguishable. Timer is inconsistent. I died more in the 2 move section than in any other since even moving immediately would sometimes lead to getting caught. The puzzles in the 3 and 4 move sections are incredibly repetitive. It’s okay to have harder ones. ### 2/5 — Not great *2022-10-04, version 1.0* The interface is distracting, the muted colours don’t help and the delays as you move from one level to the next are irritating. It’s a nice concept but the whole thing is just clunky. ### 2/5 — Game teaches you nothing and is very difficult later *2022-10-04, version 1.0* As mentioned, you have to make very fast calls that might take you 10-15 tries in one level to pass. Developers made a mistake by letting zombies not reset or giving you few seconds if you solve a part of the puzzle. I dont know why anyone would play this game. Boring and frustrating. And yeah i am going to have really bad dreams seeing Zombie Hikaru eating me alive every time i lose. That guy scares me anyways on Twitch let alone here. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Really nice, fun idea/concept *2022-10-30* But it gets pretty monotonous after a while. Having the setting option to change the board style and pieces would be nice (different colors and pieces). Also, the fact that it all the problems have the same amount of time to solve doesn’t seem right. Easier problems should have less time and more difficult problems should have more time. ### 1/5 — Cute but trash *2022-10-14* No introduction. Rules are simple. But it’s hard to see the pieces apart from each other. In the beginning you should be given more time. I played 10 puzzles before I ever noticed a coin. I still can’t figure out what I’m to jump over. ### 1/5 — Too easy *2022-10-09* Dear Creators, This game is fun and has potential, but it has way too many mate in 1 levels. Maybe make harder levels or create a daily challenge? ### 1/5 — Too hard for beginner *2022-10-05* Unlike the other reviewer i'm a beginner at chess, and some of these feel way too fast. I can't find mate in 1 on a busy board in just a few seconds. Also you have to disable the music every time you open the app, it doesn't save your settings choices. ### 1/5 — Doesn’t work on iOS 16 *2022-10-04, version 1.0* Downloaded on iPhone 14 Pro Max. Stuck on loading screen. ### 1/5 — App won’t even boot *2022-10-04, version 1.0* Can’t get the app to actually boot on an iPhone 13 pro ### 1/5 — Unrealistic *2022-10-04* This is like blitz analysis. After about the third one you start having to solve more per hop. I gave up after 5 solves in a single section. That was just the intro!? Don’t see this game taking off unless blitz solving is your thing ### 2/5 — Good concept, poorly executed *2022-10-05* More often than not I’ll make a move that’s correct, but it won’t be accepted by the game. Since one has to make a move in a few seconds, I die, even though I played correctly. ### 2/5 — Fun at first *2022-10-05* It’s a fun setup. Look forward to future editions. It would be more fun if player kept moving with each correct move, not after the entire puzzle is solved. ### 2/5 — Not a game to learn good habits *2022-10-04, version 1.0* I played until I reached the “mate in 3” levels, and I really feel this game is unhelpful and perhaps harmful to chess players wanting to sharpen their skills. The game doesn’t teach you anything, you don’t have any opportunity to learn from your mistakes. If you play a wrong move it just says WRONG and you have to quickly figure the correct move. If you lose on a puzzle, you don’t even get to see the correct solution. The biggest flaw with this game is the behavior it rewards. Sure it can be fun to play a fast paced chess game, but how do you beat the game? I progressed very quickly through the levels by simply looking for the most obvious check. Even with the mate in 3s, every move is a check. 90% of the time it’s a back rank mate with a sacrifice or one or two pieces blocking you and then being taken. The game rewards “scan the board for an obvious check, and then play that move without looking at anything else”. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this game to anyone who wants to improve at chess. It’s a cool idea for a game, but it draws out the worst of chess puzzles by forcing you to find an obvious mate without thinking and considering if it’s actually a good move or not. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Nice *2023-01-28, version 1.011* It helps me in chess as I like doing puzzles ### 5/5 — Fun *2022-10-05* Fun little app for the halloween season. Nice to work on mate in 1s in a different way from standard puzzles. ### 5/5 — Wow *2022-10-04, version 1.0* So good ### 5/5 — Fun *2022-10-04, version 1.0* Entertaining app. ### 5/5 — ✅✅ *2022-10-03* Aside from bugs, I love this app. I’m always looking for something that’s going to improve my chess game. I needed something that’s going to make me look and analyze the board faster. ### 5/5 — Can I change the color of the pieces/ I can not distinguish black from white/they are the same color *2022-03-03, version 0.4* Thank you ### 4/5 — Fun quick-fire puzzles *2022-10-17* Before you start: change the board to a higher contrast setting. The default board, grey vs slightly darker grey, makes differentiating the pieces difficult. ### 4/5 — Addictive and fun, but could use a little something *2022-10-04* I agree one of the other commenters: as fast at the game moves it would be nice to have the king stand out a bit more. And I think it could do with difficulty levels. I will probably spend a lot of time playing this game, so I'm sure I'll get better at it; but a setting that allows for slightly more time would help me get through the Mate In 2 section. Other than that, I love it! Make a T-shirt. ### 4/5 — Nice start *2022-10-03, version 1.0* It’s a nice start to a concept. Would be great if there were other functions of the gold other than just to revive, additional side challenges and/or story mode, etc. Fun nonetheless. ### 3/5 — Ok *2024-05-12, version 1.011* The graphic on the game brilliant, I like the zombies and the crunch and pulling apart as they eat you. The down side is the time you have to complete the puzzle, it’s to quick to physically see everything on the chess board. It would be better to start off slow with more time and get quicker in time to complete the puzzles as you go up levels. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*