# Chess Ultimate — user reviews > 57 indexed App Store user reviews of Chess Ultimate by Jesse Lugassy, rated 4.02/5 from 112 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chess-ultimate/id1560046518/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chess-ultimate/id1560046518.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 57 · 4★ 7 · 3★ 11 · 2★ 3 · 1★ 14 ## What do users think of Chess Ultimate? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 💡 Fun twist on classic chess - 👍 Great concept and potential - 🤩 Amazing graphics and art - 🚀 Very fun to play - 👍 No ads and offline play - 💡 Unique extra pieces and gimmicks - 🤝 Great for playing with friends - 💯 Highly recommended - ✨ Well made and polished - 🚀 Fast matchmaking (mentioned by one user, but contradicted by others) **Cons** - 🐛 Frequent bugs and glitches - 😞 Login/sign-in issues - ⏳ Long matchmaking times - ⚖️ Unbalanced gameplay - 📉 Some pieces are lackluster - ⚠️ Age restrictions for younger players - 😥 Game crashes frequently - 🚫 Cannot access online features - ❌ Invalid login addresses - 😵 Game board lacks zoom function **Commonly reported bugs** - App flashing and becoming unplayable after closing without shutting down - Game refuses to connect to the internet - No matches available - Does not indicate when king is in check - Login issues with Apple accounts - Soft locked in login screen - Game freezes during signup - Cannot sign in/stay signed in - Crashes phone requiring reset - Game crashes when playing offline against CPU - Disconnected internet error after bot matches, not receiving keys - Blob glitch where checkmate is not shown and game does not end - Account sign in button not working - Pitch black game screen **Most requested features** - Fischer Random mode - Spells or building mechanics - Health bars and better motion for turtle piece - Improved copy cat spawning mechanic - Stronger giant piece - Skins for original chess pieces - Local 1v1 single device play - Larger board size - Increase cap to 150 - More new characters ## Newest reviews (12 of 57) ### 4/5 — The game’s good, but… *2026-04-29* This game is basically what I’ve been looking for for a very long time. However, I can tell it’s not exactly in its finished phase yet. I’ve seen some glitches, and things that it should have. First, my main glitch I’ve seen is if you close the app without shutting it down, then it starts flashing and becomes unplayable. If that could be fixed, it’d be appreciated. Second, there should be spells you can cast to help you. For example, building a wall, dropping a meteor, or just forming things. What would be even better is some way to build things. Finally, making a few other characters better would be good. The turtle is effectively a lackluster pawn, so giving it a healthbar, and better motion. It can take 3 hits before it is destroyed, something like that. Also, make it so the copy cat does not spawn with two, but for every copy cat you have it becomes stronger. Every single copy cat on the board moves in unison. This can be easy for a giant to remove, but difficult for something else. Also, the giant should be stronger. I haven’t tested it much, so this may be already present, but give it a similar health bar to the turtle. It can be instant killed by other giants. This is all. None of it is required, but it would likely make the game more enjoyable. ### 4/5 — This game is AWESOME *2026-03-26* I just started playing and love everything about it it is an amazing game with no ads which is hard to find and you can play offline the gimmicks that the pieces have are fun and the comparison to normal chess is very close one thing that could be improved is to have skins for the original pieces (king, queen, pawn, rook, etc) that look like the pieces from the base game ### 2/5 — No online *2026-02-05* I saw the SSundy vid that YOU saw and I got it I tried apple but it didn’t work so I tried to login normally but it said the address was invalid so I can’t get any of your OG pices So that’s the only bad thing to fix but I will NOT play it until you fix it. ### 4/5 — Fairly new game *2026-01-18* I love it, but since it’s an independent game and it’s fairly new the bugs are expected. My biggest problem is when the glitches affect the in-game play;yeah it is really annoying when it refuses to connect to the internet or there’s no matches available but it’s worse when you’re playing and it doesn’t tell you an important thing like your king is in check. Or you click the wrong place because it’s easy to do so when the game board doesn’t have a zoom function. But the entire idea of the game with extra pieces is so fun, so I don’t even mind playing cpu sometimes. I do feel like the cpu could make smarter moves, especially if I’m playing on hard or difficult because it feels like the obvious moves aren’t always being made. I can’t wait until most of the bugs get worked out and more people play online. ### 3/5 — Great concept *2025-10-26, version 5.31* Great concept and potential to be a really good game but so many bugs and glitches that need ironing out first. ### 5/5 — So good *2025-09-26, version 5.22* I love this game so much because of all the features, the custom load outs, and the art. Also, I don't understand why other's were having trouble signing in on apple, cause I was able to log in. ### 3/5 — Game time *2025-09-25* In general is a fun twist on a classic game, the new update nerfs a lot of things that needed to be. However the new 10 minute time limit makes it grueling when your opponent abandons the game… ### 3/5 — Soft locked in the login *2025-09-17* Trying to play online but the game just freezes whenever I try to sign up ### 5/5 — Amazing🤩 *2025-08-27, version 5.1* Great game with extra pieces but I don’t like the extra steps to getting online ### 5/5 — Fun game but *2025-08-19, version 5.02* I couldn’t use Apple to sign in but I would love to try it Ive seen ssundee play it ### 3/5 — I want to play online *2025-07-05* So I saw this game from the ssundee that everyone has seen and I wanted to get the game so I went on my App Store and I searched it up and downloaded is when I first got it is said play offline or use continue with Apple account so I did continue with my Apple account but it said it said my Apple account can’t be used as other accounts like just let make our own accounts like be fr ain’t no body trying to hack into a chess ultimate account🥀🥀🥀 Pls fix your game. Please and thank you ### 5/5 — BETTER THEN REAL CHESS *2025-06-30* I love this game I got all the characters in 2 days but I would love a lot more new characters good for making new strategies and having fun would 100% recommend ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Game as a scam *2026-02-02* This is a scam because I tried clicking continue with Google and apparently I need an adult account to play which is really dumb because I'm a child and I wanna Play this fun little game and I agree with that other one star review so thank you ### 1/5 — Not allowed to play *2026-01-07, version 5.5* I cant play online... just cant ### 1/5 — Unbalanced *2025-12-11* Game is unbalanced and first mover has a huge advantage. Matchmaking algorithm works out so that I play second for 75% of my games too. Has promise though ### 1/5 — I tried to reconnect to start but it won’t connect *2025-12-07, version 5.44* Can’t even start the game ### 1/5 — Buggy and crashed my phone. *2025-10-01* It often doesn’t let me sign in/ stay signed in and it recently made my phone crash to the point of needing to fill reset it. It’s a fun game, but the iPhone app needs a lot of work to be enjoyable. ### 1/5 — …what was that? *2025-08-25, version 5.1* Regular pieces, couldn’t sign in, no other pieces, and boring, if anybody knows how to get the other pieces, tell me, I played 10-20 games thinking the other pieces would come up later but they didn’t, it was stupid ### 1/5 — Bug *2025-08-22* I can never play the game because it says I don’t have a Apple account even though I do have one and used it on other games. All I can do is play against bots with standard chess peices ### 1/5 — This game is a scam *2025-07-28* They wouldn’t even let me continue with Apple I mean, what else is this game have to offer that’s annoying. I kept trying to continue with Apple, but this game says I don’t have an Apple account when my mom definitely checked my account and she knows that I did. This game is just a fake game that nobody can play except for actual adults. ### 1/5 — Nothing to do *2025-05-11* I downloaded the game and I have an Apple account but it won’t let me play with all the people. It only let me play with 5 people. ### 1/5 — Can’t log in the game is pitch all black *2025-05-10, version 4.881* Hi want you to fix game please xryyrisrirdru giching ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Fischer Random *2026-06-05* Fischer random mode would be hype 10/10 ### 5/5 — Actually just incredible *2026-05-03, version 5.652* This game has all the potential to be up there as one of the best mobile games, the only problem is the rather long matchmaking times (which will just organically decrease) and the very inaccurate Average matchmaking times. The YouTube channel this person runs is also really good. ### 5/5 — W game *2026-04-21, version 5.652* Great. Nerf the rooks ### 5/5 — My fav game *2026-03-09* Really fun to play with friends and play your self ### 5/5 — Title *2026-01-07, version 5.5* This game is great! ### 5/5 — Add local 1v1 single device pls *2025-12-27* I think that would be fire ### 5/5 — 10/10 EZ *2025-11-24* I love this game sooooo much! It’s super fun! If you want a game more fun than just normal chess, but not too complicated, download this right now! ### 5/5 — Really fun *2025-11-08, version 5.31* Just a great game in general ### 5/5 — This game a 10 out of 10, Easy *2025-09-30* 5 stars earned all the way through, no doubt. Constant updates and oversight, active community. Ya’ll rating two stars cause you get mated in your last match , and the. think it’s a glitch you can’t move out of check lol. I can tell you this ain’t for the weak of heart. Computations tell me that Chess Ultimate is about 20-30% more complex than classical chess, and about twice as rich in tactical patterns and positioning. There are billions upon billions of possible permutations of game outcomes. Somehow though, despite all the added pieces, and all the extra considerations… the dev has made a kid friendly, tactically rich, and inherently balanced introduction to chess ready for all walks of life. However if you ARE just starting out… don’t be surprised when I roll out a rook for the checkmate. And possibly spam emojis. 😊 ### 5/5 — Epic game *2025-09-27, version 5.24* Super fun game with lots of strategy, easily 3 times as fun as normal chess --- *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 2026-09-14.*