Zen Chess: Mate in Four

Minimalist chess puzzles built around checkmate in four moves

Minimol Games · Released Apr 30, 2019

Reviews: Mostly Positive; 72% of 64
Recent reviews: Not enough recent
Players: 0; daily peak, Oct 29, 2026
Steam Deck: Untested
Last update on Steam: 5 years ago; Jan 28, 2021
Minimum PC: DirectX 9 GPU; 2 GB RAM · 0.1 GB disk; Full requirements

What is Zen Chess: Mate in Four?

A single-player collection of chess problems selected by a grandmaster. You examine preset board positions and move pieces to solve each puzzle, with an original soundtrack accompanying play.

For you if...

+you enjoy deliberate, logic-focused puzzles played at your own pace

Not for you if...

−you want full chess matches rather than preset problems
−you prefer quick solutions without thinking several moves ahead

What players say

72% of 64 reviews are positive

Players praise the puzzles as practice for calculating chess combinations. The recurring complaint is that only a preset solution is accepted, even when players find alternatives, and wrong moves reset the puzzle instead of letting them explore the position.

Screenshots and trailer

Zen Chess: Mate in Four system requirements

Minimum: DirectX 9 GPU, 2 GB RAM, 0.1 GB of disk space.

As published by the developer.

Can my PC run Zen Chess: Mate in Four?

Tell us your graphics card once and every game page will answer this for you.

Set up my PC →

Minimum

OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8
Processor: 2 Ghz Dual Core
Graphics: Graphics card supporting DirectX 9.0c
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Storage: 100 MB available space
DirectX: Version 9.0c

Does Zen Chess: Mate in Four have co-op or multiplayer?

No: single-player only, no multiplayer modes declared.

Single-player

Does Zen Chess: Mate in Four run on Steam Deck?

Untested Not yet tested by Valve on Steam Deck.

PC version details

DRM: None declared on Steam
Controller: Keyboard and mouse
Platforms: Windows, macOS
Achievements: 5
Steam features: Family Sharing
Languages: Text only: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese - Portugal, Portuguese - Brazil, Romanian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish - Latin America, Swedish, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese.

Does Zen Chess: Mate in Four use AI-generated content?

No AI-generated content is disclosed on the game's Steam page.

Self-reported by the developer under Steam rules: it covers AI content that ships in the game, not tools used to make it. Steam page checked on Oct 28, 2026. How to filter AI games on Steam