this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2025
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Help me out here?

So sometimes I just wanna play chess on my steam deck. I'm in my 50s, I got a steam deck about a year ago, and I am absolutely loving what it offers me. Before this I hadn't done gaming since PS1. I recently finished bioshock, I'm currently about a third of the way into cyberpunk. I'm also playing prey. I pick games to suit my mood. And sometimes my mood is to just wanna play chess against a computer. Can anyone recommend a game?

The steam library has a whole lot of chess games, but they mostly seem to be chess plus scary monster, chess plus tits, chess plus nonsense. I just wanna play chess! Ideally on a 3d board, that's all I ask. No gimmicks, no boobs, just chess that runs locally on my steam deck.

I've googled this and seen people on reddit etc saying you've got to play online versions in the browser - FFS!

Can someone recommend me a decent chess game that is steam deck compatible? I've already bought a couple of chess games that weren't verified and haven't worked out.

Sorry for the rant, I'm just frustrated. Chess is such an ancient and fundamental game I'd have thought this would be easy, but here I am asking for your help.

I'll be grateful for any ideas.

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[–] BlueSquid0741@lemmy.sdf.org 18 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)
[–] ook@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 4 months ago

Maybe should add that these are accessed via the desktop mode, discovery store. Then they need to be added as non-steam game to start them outside desktop mode.

[–] Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Just to add that I did buy shotgun king and I'm enjoying it. But it's not plain chess, and that's what I am looking for!

[–] moonburster@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Fun game, but not actual chess indeed!

I’ve attempted a few, but keep going back to my phone or a pc. I also got a chessnut air (secondhand, otherwise they can be quite pricey), this way I can play online but still on the board.

Might you find a good one to play, please share!

[–] Localhorst86@feddit.org 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1349230/5D_Chess_With_Multiverse_Time_Travel/
Sounds exactly what you're looking for.

Jokes aside, what about free chess on steam? Seems reasonably polished to me, is marked playable on deck and its free. What exactly have you had issues with other chess games with? Controls?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2672290/Free_Chess/

[–] Localhorst86@feddit.org 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Thanks, I'll check it out and see if it works.

The problems I've had is that everything I've tried either doesn't seem to like the steam deck, or the controls don't work, or i would need to play it in the browser from desktop.

I'm the kind of player who isn't very good, wants to play against the computer, and usually I just want to fire up a saved game when I've finished my real gaming, make a couple of moves, and save the game until next day. If it takes a lot of faff with desktop, graphics settings, etc - I just wouldn't end up using it.

I guess I'm just a little surprised I've not found something simple and steam deck verified. Thanks for your suggestions, I'll check em out!

[–] Localhorst86@feddit.org 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I am not a big chess nut, but I just gave "The Chess" a quick spin. To me, controls seem good, you use the right touchpad as mouse and the tight trigger as your mouse button.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have save/load functionality.

[–] Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

Thanks, it actually looks like just what I've been looking for - but for the lacking load/save thing. I'll give it a try after work tomorrow and see how it goes. Cheers!

[–] Gwaer@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

I’m sorry. Chess and boobs? My curiosity is piqued. Maybe I’m on my way to GM.

[–] airbussy@lemmy.one 3 points 4 months ago

Maybe Chess Ultra is what you're looking for? It's 3D and looking at ProtonDB it seems to run on the Steam Deck.

[–] Sand3rs@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Idk if you would want to put in the elbow grease for this one. But I had chessmaster 10th edition a long time ago and really enjoyed it. Currently you would likely need to aquire it, and I haven't tried running it on linux but I'm sure it would run with proton just fine.

[–] IamSparticles@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 months ago

Have you tried Tabletop Simulator?