Upgrade SparkChess

SparkChess 20 is the latest available version

To upgrade your SparkChess, please provide us with the Transaction ID that you received when you purchased SparkChess from our website. In case you have misplaced the Transaction ID, you can retrieve it and have it sent to your registered email address.

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What’s new in SparkChess 20

Gorgeous New Chess Set

Vikings vs Ninja chess set

If you want to play chess, do it in style!

The new “Vikings vs Ninja” chess set is a work of art in the truest sense of the word. Each piece was carefully sculpted by an artist to an insane resolution (over 2 million polygons per model!) and then optimized for in-game display.

If you ever want to use a more stylish chess set, this is the one.

Faster & improved engine

Just like each season of NASCAR or F1 brings faster and better cars, so we keep improving the chess engine to be both powerful and fun.

The engine is up to 50% faster, depending on the scenario. You’ll notice the biggest difference when facing stronger opponents like Guru or Alyx. Guru now thinks almost as fast as Boris, and Alyx has gone from a theoretical curiosity to a genuinely usable opponent.

You may not face Alyx every day, but she’s perfect for analysing tricky positions when you need to find the best move.

Multiplayer refinements

The Watch window has been redesigned for a cleaner, more intuitive experience — making it easier to follow live games at a glance. We’ve also squashed several bugs and made some behind the scenes improvements.

Coach improvement

The Coach has more lines and offers sharper assessments, so you’ll get clearer feedback on why a move works (or doesn’t.)

We hope you’ll enjoy playing SparkChess as much as we enjoyed building it! Your support for 18 years enables us to keep the development active.

Features introduced in previous versions:

SparkChess 18 (2024)

  • Correspondence Chess (Offline Challenges)
  • Spoken Text and Voice Commands
  • More engaging lessons
  • User Experience improvements

SparkChess 17 (2023)

  • AI Engine fine-tuning.
  • Improved Opening Explorer.
  • New lessons.
  • More engaging puzzles
  • Improved multiplayer

SparkChess 16 (2022)

  • Multiplayer overhaul.
  • 3D Board improvements.
  • Move list interactivity.
  • New privacy and security features.
  • Identicons.
Identicons

SparkChess 15 (2021)

  • Online endgame tablebase.
  • Openings explorer.
  • Board snapshot.
  • 3D improvements.
  • Localization in 7 languages.
Openings explorer
Openings explorer

SparkChess 14 (2020)

  • Alyx – customizable AI.
  • Local multiplayer.
  • AI Engine improvements.
  • Lessons: Famous historical chess games.
  • Teams Time Controls.
Customizing Alyx
Customizing Alyx

SparkChess 12 (2019)

  • Coach mode explains – in plain language – why a move was good or not.
  • Fully-3D fantasy chess set.
  • Create and manage teams.
  • More lessons and puzzles
SparkChess 12
3D Fantasy chess set

SparkChess 11 (2018)

  • Cloud-synced History.
  • Multiplayer games statistics.
  • Redesigned chat experience.
  • Report & Block abusive players.
  • Improved multiplayer connection reliability.
  • Flip board.
SparkChess 11
Multiplayer statistics

SparkChess 10 (2017)

  • New AI engine with dramatically improved speed and strength.
  • Real 3D board that can be rotated, zoomed and panned.
  • Observer multiplayer mode.
3D board
3D board

SparkChess 9 (2016)

  • Completely rewritten, using more modern language and tools.
  • 4x AI speed improvement.
  • Redesigned interface.
  • Fullscreen mode.
  • Improved PGN import.
Diagram mode

SparkChess 8 (2015)

  • 4x Improvement on opening database for more varied play.
  • 50% faster engine.
  • Sound support.
  • 15 new chess lessons.
  • Separate multiplayer play areas with support for advanced time control.
  • New scoring mode.
SparkChess 8
Start screen

SparkChess 7 (2014)

  • New UI
  • New single-player difficulty level
  • Import/Export PGN files
  • Opponent filtering in multiplayer
  • Improved board analysis
SparkChess 7
Opponent filtering

SparkChess 6 (2012)

  • HD graphics for the board.
  • Fantasy chess set.
  • Facebook integration.
  • Multiplayer enhancements.
The fixed fantasy set
The fixed fantasy set

SparkChess 5 (2011)

  • Added multiplayer mode
SmarkChess 5
Connecting to multiplayer…

SparkChess 4 (2010)

  • Renamed from flashCHESS to SparkChess to avoid trademark issues.
  • Character-based difficulty levels.
  • Interface redesign.
  • Board redesign for improved contrast.
  • Added replay mode.
  • Multi Language feature.
SparkChess 4
The start screen

FlashCHESS 3 (2008)

  • Completely new online app.
  • 3D board design.
  • new, faster chess engine that observes all chess rules.
3D board
3D board

flashChess 1 & 2 (2002)

  • The very first online chess game.
Isometric board
Isometric board