SparkChess Premium (full version)

Are you interested in downloading SparkChess for PC, Mac, iOS or Android? Have you encountered any issue? Most users can download and start playing chess right away, but just in case you’re having some problems, check this section.

How can I cancel my SparkChess Premium Live subscription?

While we certainly hope you’ll enjoy SparkChess for many years, rest assured that you can cancel your subscription quickly and painlessly.

If you have a prepaid subscription, there’s nothing to cancel. After its expiration, you just won’t be able to log in anymore.

If you have a new, recurring subscription, you can manage it from your Premium Live account. Log in, open the control panel from the button at the top of the screen and click on Manage Subscription. A list of subscriptions will be shown. Click on the Cancel button on the current active subscription, confirm and your subscription will be canceled immediately, but you’ll still have access until the end of the period.

How do I install SparkChess on Mac OS?

On Macs, SparkChess doesn’t need a special installer. There is no DMG or PKG file. When the download completes, Mac OS automatically decompresses the SparkChess zip file so all you need to do is to drag it from the Downloads folder to the desktop. Click here for a video.

My antivirus blocks SparkChess – why?

SparkChess does not contain any form of malware, spyware, adware or anything harmful. It doesn’t interact with the system beyond loading & saving games and accessing the internet in multiplayer; the installer doesn’t do anything else besides copying files. Still, some overzealous antiviruses may very rarely flag SparkChess and move it to quarantine. (Sometimes, antiviruses manage to actually label themselves as viruses.)

SparkChess was briefly flagged by Norton Antivirus as ‘WS.Reputation1‘, which basically means a file not commonly downloaded (new release – duh!). We worked with Symantec and whitelisted it but the process has to be repeated for every release. You should keep your virus definitions up-to-date so you don’t get false-positives.

If you are unsure about SparkChess for Windows, you can use the free VirusTotal.com service to upload and scan the installer. They scan with 70 different antivirus and antimalware programs .

If Norton Antivirus quarantined your download, please follow these instructions to restore it.

I purchased SparkChess but I still see the free version when I play

You’re probably launching the free version by mistake. Don’t worry, it happens.

Let’s review the possibilities:

  • if you purchased SparkChess for PC or Mac, you no longer need to play the game in your browser. You must locate the downloaded game and install it on your computer. Use CTRL+J / CMD+J from your browser to see the Download History and look for a file containing the word “sparkchess”, e.g. sparkchess18setup.exe on PC or sparkchess18.zip on Mac.
  • If you subscribed to Premium Live to play in your browser, you no longer need to access www.sparkchess.com – instead you must open the premium site at premium.sparkchess.com to login.
  • On Android and IOS, pay attention to the game icons and names. They are called differently, the full version is “SparkChess Pro”.

How can I upgrade to the latest version?

If you own an older version downloadable version, you can upgrade using this upgrade form.

I downloaded the game but I can’t find it. Do I need to buy it again?

On Mac OS, SparkChess is distributed as a simple zip, without any DMG/PKG installer. Check your Downloads folder or use Spotlight (CMD+Space) to search for “sparkchess”. After you find it, consider dragging it to Desktop or to the Applications folder.

On Windows, check your Downloads folder and use Windows Search (press WIN+S) to search for “sparkchess”.

If you still  can’t find it or in the event you lost all the information on your computer, you can download SparkChess again. You’ll need your Transaction ID and email address (or at least the email address you used for purchase to recover the Transaction ID).

We recommend SparkChess Premium Live instead, which doesn’t require you to install anything.

I bought the game, but I didn’t receive an email or link. What should I do?

Most likely the email sent to you was flagged as spam by your mail server or email application. Please check your Spam/Junk folder. If you can’t find it, please contact us. We’ll do our best to reply to you within two business days and will sort it out.

I’m on Linux – is SparkChess available for me?

While we do not have a native Linux version, SparkChess Premium Live is available on all operating systems that support modern browsers. Firefox is fully supported.