Pure Chess 100% Achievement Guide

Introduction

This guide describes how to unlock all the acheivements with minimal effort. You will not find instructions or tactics on how to play chess, though this guide assumes you have a basic understanding of the rules. If you are new to chess, I highly recommend you play the tutorial first to at least understand how each piece moves.

Chess Notation

This guide makes heavy use of standard algebraic notation[en.wikipedia.org]. The gist of it is as follows:

1. A prefix to describe the piece that was moved:
   
   • K for king
     
   • Q for queen
     
   • R for rook
     
   • B for bishop
     
   • N for knight
     
   • no prefix for pawn
2. An x if a piece was captured
   
3. Grid coordinates describing where the piece landed:
   
   • a to h from left to right (white at the bottom)
     
   • 1 to 8 from white side to black side
4. A + or # if the move was check or checkmate

There are two moves per line, white is always the left set as white always moves first.

Online Play

Pure Correspondence - Win a game of Online Play.

There's only a single achievement that requires an online partner. The game features asynchronous multiplayer so the other player (or second account) doesn't need to be online at the same time as you.

Note: This achievement requires signing up into their servers. Registration also only worked when my Steam profile was public.

Here's an easy win for either side:
White Wins:

1. e3 g5
   
2. f4 f6
   
3. Qh5#

Black Wins:

1. f3 e6
   
2. g4 Qh4#

Miscellaneous

Amateur - Complete all the tutorials.

Self-explanatory. Play this first if you don't know how chess pieces move or don't understand the notation.

Check - Put opponent in check in exhibition game.

Self-explanatory. Will be done below.

Piece Collector - Capture 100 pieces.

Self-explanatory and probably impossible to miss.

vs Yourself

The achievements below can all be done in a local game with the player controlling both sides. Set Player 1 to play White.
Though it's possible to unlock all 5 achievements in a single game, each achievement is recorded from the start of a new game.

Double Check - Deliver a check by two pieces at the same time.

1. e3 e5
   
2. Qf3 Ke7
   
3. Nh3 Ke6
   
4. Nf4+ Kf6
   
5. Nh5+

Promotion - Advance a pawn to the eighth rank in an offline game.

1. a4 Nc6
   
2. a5 Ne5
   
3. a6 Nc6
   
4. axb7 Ne5
   
5. b8=Q

O_O_O - Perform a castling move on the queenside during any full game.

1. d3 a6
   
2. Be3 b6
   
3. Qd2 c6
   
4. Nc3 d6
   
5. O-O-O

En Passant - Perform an en passant move during any full game.

1. h4 a6
   
2. h5 g5
   
3. hxg6

Epaulette Mate - Deliver checkmate where the king is blocked on both sides by his own rooks.

1. a3 e5
   
2. c3 Bxa3
   
3. Qb3 Qh4
   
4. Qxb7 Nf6
   
5. Qxc7 Na6
   
6. Qxc8+ Ke7
   
7. Qc5+ Ke8
   
8. Rxa3 Rd8
   
9. Ra1 Rf8
   
10. Qxe5#

vs Computer

Checkmate - Win an exhibition game against the computer.

Start a local game against the Computer on the easiest "1 - Monkey" difficulty. Play as White.
If you have difficulty winning, see Tournament King below on how to setup another chess AI against Pure Chess' AI.

Tournament King - Complete Tournament mode on all three difficulties.

Select Chess Challenges > Tournament from the main menu and win all three tournaments. Each tournament is 4 games you need to win consecutively. You can win easily by setting up a better chess AI against the game:

1. Go to https://lichess.org/
   
2. "Play with the computer"
   
3. Variant: Standard
   
4. Time Control: Unlimited
   
5. AI Level: 8
   
6. Play as black if you are playing as white on Pure Chess (name is on the left side of the screen) or visa-versa.

Input lichess.org's White moves into Chess Ultra as your own moves and Chess Ultra's moves into lichess.org. Continue until one side wins. If needed, flip the board on lichess (🔄 button) so it's easier to mirror the moves.

Grandmaster - Achieve an Elo of 2500, or a Grand Master Pure Chess rating.

ELO is for playing against real opponents online and the Pure Chess rating (PCR) is the in game rating system against the computer. It's much easier to farm the latter. You start at 100 PCR and Grand Master is 1000.

Note that the PCR won't raise until you've beaten the first tournament. Your PCR can be checked when choosing a difficulty to play against or in your profile.

After finishing all three tournaments, you'll be around ~230 PCR.
1. Start a local game against the Computer on the hardest "10 - Grandmaster" difficulty. Play as Black.
   Upon starting the game immediately offer to draw until the computer accepts. Continue until you reach ~934 PCR. You'll get:
   
   • +8 per draw until ~451
     
   • +4 per draw until ~747
     
   • +3/+4 per draw until ~814
     
   • +2/+3 per draw until ~864
     
   • +2 per draw until ~904
     
   • +1/+2 per draw until ~934
     
   • +1 per two draws until ???
     You can use the replay button on the results screen to start a new round quickly. I grinded until 936 PCR which was ~190 draws total.
2. At 936 PCR, I switched to grinding the following two movesets
   
   • against Level 1 - Monkey Computer:
     
     1. d4 e5
        
     2. dxe5 g5
        
     3. h4 h5
        
     4. Bxg5 Qxg5
        
     5. hxg5 Rh6
        
     6. gxh6 Bg7
        
     7. hxg7 f5
        
     8. Qd5 f4
        
     9. Qxg8+ Ke7
        
     10. Qh7 Ke6
         
     11. g8=B+ Kxe5
         
     12. Qg7+ Ke4
         
     13. Rxh5 f3
         
     14. Qe5#
   • against Level 2 - Novice Computer:
     
     1. Nf3 Nf6
        
     2. d4 Ng4
        
     3. e4 Nc6
        
     4. h3 b5
        
     5. hxg4 Ba6
        
     6. d5 Nb4
        
     7. a3 Nxc2+
        
     8. Qxc2 h5
        
     9. e5 hxg4
        
     10. Rxh8 gxf3
         
     11. e6 Rb8
         
     12. exf7+ Kxf7
         
     13. Qf5+ Ke8
         
     14. Qg6#
   Both methods worked 90% of the time, entirely dependant on whether the computer's first move matched. Each can be done in about a minute after memorising the moves.
   Start with one then switch to the other when the PCR caps. I actually did the Level 2 method first, which capped at 974 PCR, then farming Level 1 got me to 1000. In the end I had 40 wins against Level 2 and 20 against Level 1.
   If it still doesn't work, follow the setup in Tournament King to beat the Computer proper.

Bonus Games

Problem Wizard - Solve 100 mate problems.

Select Chess Challenges > Bonus Games from the main menu and complete all 100 puzzles for the achievement.

Mate in 1

Problem 01 -- Rf8#
Problem 02 -- Nc7#
Problem 03 -- Ng8#
Problem 04 -- Nh6#
Problem 05 -- Nf6#
Problem 06 -- Nxd6#
Problem 07 -- Nf7#
Problem 08 -- Qa3#
Problem 09 -- Qg5#
Problem 10 -- Qb7#
Problem 11 -- Bg6#
Problem 12 -- Na7#
Problem 13 -- Ne7#
Problem 14 -- Nd7#
Problem 15 -- Nc5#
Problem 16 -- Qc4#
Problem 17 -- Nf7#
Problem 18 -- Bb5#
Problem 19 -- Qg7#
Problem 20 -- h4#

Mate in 2

Problem 01 -- Qg7+, Nf6#
Problem 02 -- Bxf6, Ng3#
Problem 03 -- Rc7+, Ne6#
Problem 04 -- Rg8+, Qe7#
Problem 05 -- Nc4+, Be4#
Problem 06 -- Rh8+, Qh7#
Problem 07 -- Bd4, Be5#
Problem 08 -- Qxh7+, Rh4#
Problem 09 -- Qxb8+, Bxb5#
Problem 10 -- Qxc6+, Ba6#
Problem 11 -- Nd5, Red1# (Red1# refers to the rook in column E)
Problem 12 -- Qxf8+, Re8#
Problem 13 -- Nc6, Qd8#
Problem 14 -- Qxf6+, Rg8#
Problem 15 -- Nf6+, Qe8#
Problem 16 -- Qxh7+, hxg6# (hxg6# refers to the pawn in column H)
Problem 17 -- Qb4, Qxe1#
Problem 18 -- Qh5+, Nf5#
Problem 19 -- b4+, Bd4#
Problem 20 -- Qxf6+, Bh6#

Mate in 3

Problem 01 -- Bf8+, Qxh5+, Rh6#
Problem 02 -- Qd8+, Bg5+, Rd8#
Problem 03 -- Qh6+, Ne6+, Rh1#
Problem 04 -- Qd7+, Rf7+, Rgxg7# (Rgxg7# refers to the rook in column G)
Problem 05 -- Re7+, Re8+, Qe7#
Problem 06 -- Ng6+, Qg7+, Nh6#
Problem 07 -- Qh6, gxf3, Nxh6# (gxf3 refers to the pawn in column G)
Problem 08 -- Rh8+, Qxf8+, Qh6#
Problem 09 -- Qa6+, Qxa7+, Qa8#
Problem 10 -- Qh8+, Ng6+, Qxg7#
Problem 11 -- Qh6, Kf1, Qh4#
Problem 12 -- Rxb6+, Rxa2+, Rxa4#
Problem 13 -- Rd6+, Nf7+, g4#
Problem 14 -- Qe8+, Ne7+, Rf8#
Problem 15 -- Bf8+, Nxg6+, Rg7#
Problem 16 -- Qe7+, Qxd6+, Qc6#
Problem 17 -- Rd8+, Bc4+, Nxe5#
Problem 18 -- Bh5+, Rdg1+, Ne2# (Rdg1+ refers to the rook in column D)
Problem 19 -- Ne6+, Bxe6, Qg8#
Problem 20 -- Qh6, Bxe5, Nxh6#

Mate in 4

Problem 01 -- Qxh7+, Bf6, Rxe3, Qh8#
Problem 02 -- Qh8+, g7+, Bh7+, g8=Q#
Problem 03 -- Qxd8+, Nf6+, Re8+, Rxf8#
Problem 04 -- Qxg7+, Rh7+, Rh8+, R1h7# (R1h7# refers to the rook in row 1)
Problem 05 -- Qxd7+, Nf6+, Rxd7+, Bg4#
Problem 06 -- Qe5+, Rc7+, Qe7+, Qxc7#
Problem 07 -- Rh8+, Be8+, Kg5, Rf8#
Problem 08 -- Rd8+, Qe6+, Nb3+, Qe4#
Problem 09 -- Rxg7+, Nf5+, Rg6+, Nh6#
Problem 10 -- Qxe6+, Bc4+, R1d6+, Rf7# (R1d6+ refers to the rook in row 1)
Problem 11 -- Qg8+, Ne7+, N5g6+, Nxg6# (N5g6+ refers to the knight in row 5)
Problem 12 -- Qxh5, Qxh7+, hxg5+, Rh8# (hxg5+ refers to the pawn in column H)
Problem 13 -- Nf7+, Qc8+, Rxc8+, Rxf8#
Problem 14 -- Qh5+, Bf7+, Nd5+, Nc4#
Problem 15 -- Qe6+, Rf1+, Rxf6+, Rg8#
Problem 16 -- Qxh7+, Rxh7+, Rh3+, Rxh6#
Problem 17 -- Qxf8+, Rxf7+, Rg7+, Rg8#
Problem 18 -- Qh7+, Qh8+, Nf5+, Bc5#
Problem 19 -- Bxf7, Bd5+, Qd8+, Qxe8#
Problem 20 -- Rxh7+, Qh5+, Qf7+, Qxg7#

Mate in 5

Problem 01 -- Ne7+, Rxh7+, Rh1+, Rxh3+, Qh5#
Problem 02 -- Bh7+, Bg6+, Rh8+, Qh5+, Qh7#
Problem 03 -- Qe6+, Rb7+, Nc6+, Rb8+, Rxc8#
Problem 04 -- Qe6+, Qxd7+, Rf8+, Nb6+, Bxb7#
Problem 05 -- Qxh7+, Rxh7+, Rh3+, Bh6+, Bf8#
Problem 06 -- Bxf7+, Qd8+, Rh8+, Qxe8+, Qxf8#
Problem 07 -- Qd5, Qxe6, Bxe6+, Rxf6, Rf8#
Problem 08 -- Qxb6, Rxb6, Bxd6, Be6+, Rb8#
Problem 09 -- Qh6, Kh2, Kxh1, Qxh7+, Rh4#
Problem 10 -- Qd7+, Nd6+, Nf7+, Re8+, Rd8#
Problem 11 -- Rxe5+, g4+, Qh6+, h3+, Qe3#
Problem 12 -- Re4, fxg3, Rh4+, Qh6+, Qxh7# (fxg3 refers to the pawn in column F)
Problem 13 -- Qg6+, e8=Q+, Re6+, Qg6+, Re8#
Problem 14 -- Qd8+, Rxg5+, h6+, Qh8+, Qxh7#
Problem 15 -- Bb4+, Qb6, Qxc7, Qxf7+, Qd7#
Problem 16 -- Bc7, Qxg2, Rxc5+, Qb7+, Ra1#
Problem 17 -- Rf8+, Qxe5+, Qb8+, Qxd8+, Qxf8#
Problem 18 -- Ne4+, Qf6+, Nc5+, Qe7, Qxe8#
Problem 19 -- Bg7+, Rc8+, Qg4, Rxd8, Qg7#
Problem 20 -- Qxe5+, Bc6+, Qb8+, Qxc8+, Qxd8#

[Deykenhow]

Your hard work needs to be honord. Thank you for this guide. Live long and prosper

[alphabetsoup]

Thanks! I've replaced the solution with your version

[KamziX]

Mate in 5 Problem 11 -- Rxe5+, Qh7+, Qg7+, Qh6+, h3# works in this game, but it is not the right solution, because black can move Kh3 after Qg7+ and this brings previous situation back.
Better is Rxe5+, g4+, Qh6+, h3+, Qe3#

[NEXGENEEZY]

Thanks for the guide! golden unicorn 4 u