Chess, unchained. Play real chess, then break it: power-ups, four-player free-for-alls, a 3D cube board and Chess Royale – a battle royale where kings parachute in. Built for streamers: your Twitch chat can vote, freeze and meddle live.

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About This Game

Chess, unchained.

Unchess is the chess game you'd rather watch – and then want to play. Classic chess stays exactly chess. Everything else is fair game.

Four ways to play

  • Classic – Correct FIDE rules, bullet to rapid time controls, clean input and no gimmicks.
  • MultiChess – Four players, one cross-shaped 14×14 board, clockwise turns. Alliances form, break and end in eliminations. Last king standing wins.
  • 3D Chess – A 5×5×5 cube of stacked boards with the Unicorn, which moves along the space diagonals. Knights jump between levels.
  • Chess Royale – Four kings parachute onto an arena full of obstacles. Grab gold, collect bounties, shop at market stalls and buy reinforcements while the ring closes in.

Power-ups that bend the rules


Switch power-ups on and every player picks three cards before the match. Sixteen cards to unlock, three per match – and each one says in plain words what it does and what it costs.
  • Freeze an enemy piece in ice, give one of yours a Knight's Blessing or drop a Barricade into a mating net.
  • Hide a Mine, turn a piece to stone with Petrify or throw an attacker back to its own side with Ejected.
  • Take a Mystery cube on the board and a random card fires on the spot – unless your chat gets to vote.

Built for streaming


  • Connect Twitch in the settings – no bots, no OBS plugins, no extra accounts.
  • Chat triggers power-ups with commands like !freeze and votes in polls. Pick up a Mystery cube and chat decides which card it becomes.
  • Channel Points rewards for affiliates and partners. A redemption the game cannot play is refunded.
  • You are the director: presets from Chill to Chaos, cooldowns, caps and who chat is allowed to target. Opponents always see the rules before the match, and one Panic button shuts chat out.
  • A board that reads on a phone at Twitch bitrate, highlight detection, Steam Timeline markers and optional Twitch auto-clips.

Your board, your pieces


  • New piece sets come from the Steam Workshop: subscribe and play with them.
  • Build your own set and upload it from inside the game.
  • Chess sets, piece skins and maps to collect. Cosmetics never change gameplay – no pay-to-win, no loot boxes.

Fair, fast and good-looking

  • Quick match, lobbies, friend invites and rematch in one click – from launch to match in under thirty seconds.
  • Local hot-seat, LAN and online play over Steam, plus bots to practise against.
  • Voice and text chat with the people you play.
  • Every match is recorded move by move. Watch it again from your match history, power-ups and chat votes included.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

Some pre-made assets were created with the help of generative AI tools and then selected and edited by the developers: power-up card illustrations, achievement icons, store and key art, and some 3D chess piece models for cosmetic sets. The game does not generate any AI content while you play.

System Requirements

Windows
macOS
SteamOS + Linux
    Minimum:
    • OS: Windows 10 64-bit
    • Processor: Quad-core CPU, 2.5 GHz
    • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Vulkan 1.2 / DirectX 12 compatible GPU (GTX 960 / RX 470 or better)
    • DirectX: Version 12
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: Requires the Steam client. Online play requires a broadband internet connection.
    Recommended:
    • OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit
    • Processor: 6-core CPU, 3.0 GHz
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: GTX 1060 / RX 580 or better
    • DirectX: Version 12
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    Minimum:
    • OS: macOS 13 Ventura
    • Processor: Apple M1 or Intel Core i5 (quad-core, 2.5 GHz)
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Metal compatible GPU (Apple M1 or Radeon Pro 560 or better)
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: Requires the Steam client. Online play requires a broadband internet connection.
    Recommended:
    • OS: macOS 14 Sonoma or later
    • Processor: Apple M2 or better
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Apple M2 or better
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
* Starting February 15, 2024, the Steam Client will no longer support 32-bit games or macOS 10.14 or lower.
    Minimum:
    • OS: Ubuntu 22.04 64-bit / SteamOS 3
    • Processor: Quad-core CPU, 2.5 GHz
    • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Vulkan 1.2 compatible GPU (GTX 960 / RX 470 or better)
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: Requires the Steam client. Online play requires a broadband internet connection.
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