I myself have only experience from Fritz 5.32, 6.0 and 7.0, Chessmaster 7000, 8000 and 9000, Shredder 10 and Rybka 4. If you want to learn more about the programs, go to the producer.
ChessGenius, which has been developed by Rickard Lang, is a very strong program, but it has not won any chess computer tournament since 1995. There is a demo version of Chess Genius Classic 7.
ChessGenius Classic7 is not compatible with the ChessBase platforms but has its own GUI. Eduard Nemeth describes how various chess engines can be installed in the GUI of Chess Genius 7. Languages: German and English.
ChessMaster is most likely the most sold chess program in the world - 4 million copies according to ChessMaster. It is a very strong program, but few professional players use it. There are other programs, which are more useful in storing and analyzing games. ChessMaster focus above all on graphics and a lot of gadgets, which are rather unimportant. But nobody can deny that the product is extremely elegant. The latest version is called ChessMaster 9000.
ChessPartner 5.3 exist in a demo version, which can be used in 30 days. ChessPartner does not belong to the strongest program and nor is it represented on the most important list as SSDF´s and Eric Hallswoth´s. ChessPartner has - despite it is a cheap program - a lot of functions, among other things you can connect to chess servers as ICC, FICS and chess.net.
Chess Rk has been developed by Rksoft. Chess program with five levels of difficulty. Shareware – you can use it a limited number of times until you have to register and pay 15 dollar. It is not a bad program, but there are better ones, if you want a commercial program.
Chess System Tal II has at least previously been regarded as a strong program, which plays "human". "It has been constructed to play against other chess players (that is humans)", as the product information said. The program is not developed any more and is no longer represented on any rating list. The program was sold for a while by Purple Software under the name Purple Chess Champion and seem to appear in other disguises as well.
Chess Tiger, developed by Cristopher Therón, is a very strong program, which is sold by Lokasoft/Rebel. Chess Tiger 15.0 was ranked number five on the list of SSDF on May 26 2003.
Deep Sjeng 1.0 - this is a new program, that has been developed by Gian-Carlo Pascutto. The program, which comes with ChessPartner´s interface, is able to use 8 processors simultaneously. It is manufactured by Lokasoft.
EG (Earth Gaming) Chess is a surrealistic chess program. I would not buy this program in the first run. There is a demoversion, so anybody may evaluate the program.
Fritz, which is produced by ChessBase, is one of the absolutely best chess programs in the world. Fritz has often been ranked as number one on SSDF´s and Eric Hallsworth´s lists. The interface is very smart and is used by several other programs and engines. Now (2006) you can download the version 5.32. If you want to get to know commercial programs, this very strong program is recommended. Fritz 4.0 is installed as analysis engine in ChessBase Light and Fritz 6.0 exists in form of a demo version. Fritz 7.0 was released in October 2001. An important novelty was the opportunity to play free against other Fritz 7-users via the ChessBase server. Fritz 8 got a lot of new functions for the Chessbase chess server including more communications (email, chatting) improvements, new playing options and a player rating system - and finally a real working 3D chessboard. Fritz 8 played a draw, 4 - 4, against Kramnik in Dubai. The last version of Fritz is designated 9.0.
FXChess is a combined playing program and chess tutorial and besides adapted to Palm. Maybe this is Chess System Tal II in another disguise. Language: Spanish.
Gambit Tiger 2.0 is a version of Rebel Tiger, specialized in gambits. The programmer is Christopher Théron, but both these programs are produced by Schröder BV, which also produces Rebel. Gambit Tiger is a very strong program - number six on Eric Hallsworth´s list from 17/3 2003.
Gandalf, which has been devoloped by the Dane Steen Surballe, is a program which incessantly has climbed upwards on the rating list. The latest version has the designation 5.0 and is sold by Lokasoft/Rebel.
Goliath-Blitz by Michael Borgstädt is a commercial version, that is “powered” by Chess Academy Software. There are several free variants of Goliath, among others the chess engine Little Goliath and Goliath Mate, a mate solving program. Language: German.
Grand Master Chess - shareware program, which may be tested in fifteen days, and which later costs about $ 15. You can configure the design, vary different skill-levels and use a three-level hint. GMC also supports network gaming. The shareware version does not permit you to finish a game, but the playing strength is not too impressive.
Hiarcs is developed by Mark Uniacke and is one of the strongest programs in the world. The program is considered to play "human". Hiarcs uses Fritz interface. The latest version is designed 8.0.
Junior, developed by Amir Ban and Shay Basinsky, is also a leading program - different versions have been number one on certain lists and won some prestigous tournaments, for example the Computer Chess World Championships in 2001 and 2002. As we all know, Junior played 3-3 against Kasparov in a match in New York in January 2003. Junior uses the same interface as Fritz and is sold by ChessBase. The latest version has the designation 8.0.
Kasparov Chessmate may be installed on a PC or a PDA. The program is described as a multiplatform. The program should also be able to function as a client for online chess games.
Kchess Elite is an Australian program. Alike ChessPartner it is not especially strong and is not represented on the most important lists. There is a demo version.
Ktulu is a strong engine, which has been developed by Rahman Paidar from Iran, using the ChessPartner GUI.
Majestic Chess – the advance publicity once promised a chess engine, made by the same person who constructed the ChessMaster engine. The graphics resembled that of ChessMaster too. The program was reviewed by Game Spot in 2003. Presumably the program was not a hit, but you can still buy the program at Amazon.com for about 10$.
M-Chess Pro 8 was developed by Marty Hirsch and was also a strong program with its own interface. It is no longer developed. Also it is probably very difficult to get hold of the program anymore. Marty Hirsch is by the way technical director at World Chess Network, a playsite with big potential. The link went previously to Gambit-Soft, a firm, that does not exist anymore.
Nimzo, which is developed by Christian Donninger, is also a very strong program belonging to the ten best programs in the world. The last version has the designation 8.0, uses Fritz interface and is sold by ChessBase.
Rebel belongs absolutely to the ten strongest program in the world.. The latest versions are Rebel 10 and Rebel Century 4.0. Ed Schröder has also the nice habit of releasing a free version of Rebel on the net, as fast as he has developed a new version of Rebel. Rebel Decade 3.0 is for example a free version of Rebel 9 and plays with full strength on Fridays. I recommend Rebel 3.0. Beside the home page is very well designed and contains a lot of product information.
Ruffian is a strong chess engine constructed by Per-Ola Valfridsson. Already the first free version, 1.0.1, immediately took a place among the 20 best chess programs on the SSDF list. Ruffian 2.0 is now sold with different interfaces, with the Arena interface by Schachvertrieb Niggemann and with the ChessPartner interface by Lokasoft.
Rybka is a very strong chess engine, programmed by Vasik Rajlich. It is nowadays sold with the ChessBase interface. Rybka was for a long time number one on the rating lists, but it is now surpassed by Houdini.
Shredder, which has been developed by Stefan Meyer-Kahlen, is a very strong playing program. It has won the World Computer Chess Championships no less than eight times and the program is often top of the SSDF list. The homepage of Shredder 3, which won the WCCC 1999 (International Paderborn Computer Chess Championships) is still on Internet. The latest version is designated 8.0 and you can get the classical interface as well as the Fritz interface. You can download Shredder with the classical interface from Chess with Shredder for a trial. See also information about Shredder by ChessBase.
Sigma Chess is according to the product information a master strength Macintosh chess program for both OS X and Classic Mac OS. The feature set includes: Database support, PGN/EPD support, basic desktop publishing, endgame databases, novice levels, a true perspective 3D board, ExaChess compatibility and much more. There is a freeware version, Sigma Chess 6 Lite.
Smarthink 1.0 - a chess engine, which is sold by Lokasoft, and which is delivered with the ChessPartner GUI.
Zap!Chess is the commercial version of Zappa, the 2005 World Computer Chess Champion, developed by Anthony Cozzie. The CD contains two versions: “Paderborn” and “Reykjavik”. Reykjavik is the version that won the World Championship.
P.S. If you want to beat a chess program, you might get some good advices at the section Human vs. computer. D.S.
Programs for Pocket PC (Palm etc.)
This sub-category includes links to chess programs for Pocket- PCs and mobile telephones as well as links to chess handhelds.
9.95 Chess is a new program for Palm OS, which also costs the same in dollars. GNUChess is used as a chess engine. The interface is surprisingly easy-to-read.
Chess Anywhere! is dedicated to chess puzzles and games on mobile devices. Chess Anywhere has for example designed a client, which enables a player to play on internet or against an adversary also possessing a handheld device.
ChessBuddy, a chess program for mobile phones, plays at four different levels. Several brands and models of phones are supported – with more to come.
Chesscapade is according to the product description "a fun, action packed next generation chess game featuring groundbreaking 3D battle animations,… and four different play modes from 'AI challenge to challenge a friend across the network'." Price 18 $.
ChessCoach.de – on Stefan Knappe´s homepage you can find a lot of stuff concerning chess training - tactics, endgames, openings, news. Furthermore you also can download his software "ChessCoach" for Palm and in future for Pocket PC too. Language: German.
Chess Genius,with Rickard Lang as programmer, can also be used on Palm and other Pocket PC.
Chess programs for mobile phones - this is the most comprehensive list on the net, that also includes reviews, about chess programs for mobile telephones. This type of programs has indeed a bright future.
Chess Tiger by Christopher Théron is also very strong on Palm. See also Gambit-Tiger and Rebel Tiger above.
Double Chess costs 15 dollar.
Einstein Challenger TM Chess is a chess program for mobile telephones, at the moment Sharp GX20 and Nokia 6600 and 3650, but the program will be adapted for other brands as well. You may either play against the program or against an human opponent.
Graduate
Chess is a chess tutor/assistant program
for Pocket PC.
The designer, who recently got back into playing chess, started to read chess
books, and realized just how inconvenient having a chessboard by your side,
when reading, really was. He wanted to set up the board easily or to revert
quickly to a saved position. Graduate Chess was the answer to this predicament.
HIARCS now also exists as a program for handhelds. The program is guaranteed to be strong – see comparison table with the competitors of HIARCS on this homepage.
Intellichess - you can play against the program as well as use it as a client for play on ICC. You can set up a position on the board; you can save your game and load it later. PGN format is supported .The program costs about 30$, but you can download a free trial.
Millenium produces pocket computers as well as classical electronic chessboards, for example Karpov Schachpartner. There are several models of pocket chess computers – the latest addition is Touch Chess & Games. Languages: German and English.
MobileChess - a demo version with reduced functions may be downloaded. Producer: Captain Mobile.
OlmiChess V2.61 functions as a playing program as well as a client for play against human opponents on the web. You can test the program before buying it. Language: German.
PalmChess supports PGN-format. There is a demo version.
PDA-Schach contains information about chess in general as well as the chess training program "ChessCoach" for handhelds. Language: German.
PocketChess - the most expensive variant costs 35 dollar, but there are also free versions.
Pocket ChessPartner 1.0 has been developed by Lokasoft, Netherlands.
Pocket Fritz, is of course a strong program. Frederic Friedel from ChessBase USA reports about the reception at the chess tournament "Mainz chess classics".
PocketGrandmaster is considered to be a strong program.
Pocket PC & Palm Chess Programs - Bryan Whitby has put together a simple guide with screenshots and links to more than 20 programs.
Pouetchess is a completely free chess program in 3D, based on Open Source. The program has been developed by a young Frenchman. It is easy to use and suits especially beginners. Language: French.
Purple Software also has a chess program for Palm.
Talking LCD Chess - review by Chris Kantack.
Touch Chess - Excalibur, which normally produces electronic chess boards, has also developed a pocket computer solely for chess. Advantage: No separate pieces.
www.pocket-schach.de - a site, that is associated with Computer Schach und Spiele, about handheld chess computers. You can buy handheld chess computers as well as download various free programs for Pocket PC. Language: German.
***
If you want to know more about this type of programs, go to the following web sites:
Chris Kantack´s Chess Reviews is completely specialized in chess handhelds and software for pocket-PC.
dmoz, the manually organized search service, has a category with Pocket Digital Assistance (PDA).
All these programs use their own interfaces (that is chess boards). If you as an amateur wants to defeat a chess program, there is no sense in playing against the best commercial programs, because they play as good as a Grand Master. On the other hand it is possible to beat many amateur programs, but hardly programs as Comet or Crafty.
I have listed programs, which I have downloaded myself and played against. In the cases I have found the home pages to the programmers, those are registered - if the link not functions, search at PH-download or Pitt Chess Archives.
Alex has been designed by Alexander Turikov. Estimated Elo 1921. You can test the program during 15 days, before you must decide whether to buy it for 8 $ or not. Languages: Russian and English.
AlfChess - a new chess program with its own interface, which may be downloaded from Le Fou Numérique. Go to "Téléchargements". Sometimes I get questions from parents about weak programs, which their children may train with. This is such a program. Language: French.
Arasan has been developed by John Dart. It is strong, but can not compete with the commercial programs or the best amateur programs.
Armageddon by Grzegorz Sidorowicz comes with its own interface, but the program can also be installed in WinBoard. The program took the second place in the Polish Computer Chess Championships in 2002 as well as 2003. Language: English.
Bringer is a program, which does not need so much space on the hard disc, but it is poisonous program. The last version, 1.9, was released in December 2001. Constructor: Gerrit Reubold.
Brutal Chess 0.5.2 - a chess program with its own interface. The programmers started to develop this program in May 2005, which is extensively documented in a blog.
Chenard is a nice, little program developed by Don Cross, and it is not impossible to beat it.
Chess-it! is a nice program, which is possible to defeat.
Chess Marvel - there is a shareware version, that you may test before registration, which costs 10 dollars. The shareware version plays only on novice level. The design is not too impressive.
Chess Soft has been developed by Alexsandr Stanishevskiy, a very experienced programmer. Languages: Russian and English.
ChessV is a universal chess program designed to be capable of playing a (potentially) unlimited number of chess variants. It provides support for opening books, pawn structure hash tables, and other features of commercial chess programs. Free.
Comet is a strong program developed by Ulrich Türke. It is represented on many rating lists and manages very well against certain commercial programs. If I am not completely wrong, Comet defeated a version of Nimzo in the tournament in Paderborn 2000. The last version of Comet is from 1999. There is also a version designed for WinBoard. DOS-program.
DelfiT - Franco Cavicchio has developed this chess program, which exists in two versions. One of them suits beginners and is free – the other one, the pay version, is more advanced. The chess board has a 2,5-D representation! Language: English.
Diogenes by Jörg Burwitz is also a DOS-program. The last version is from July 1999.
E.T.Chess has been developed by Eric Triki. The program plays around 2100 ELO according to the designer.
Exchess by Dan Homan exists both in a DOS- and a Windows version. The last version is from November 1998.
GnuChess exists both in a DOS- and Windows version. As programmers have Türke and D.Baker been involved. The last version is from 1997.
Goober Chess 960 is a free chess program, using Chess960 rules, which you can play against on the net. The program is working fast, but not especially deep, and is therefore suitable for beginners. Language Dutch, but multiple language versions are planned.
GT Chess is a basic chess program written in Java (requires Java 1.4 or later). It is 100% freeware.
Homeostatic Computer Chess Player Applet - by playing chess with this applet you are participating in an AI research experiment in distributed computation. Moves computed on your machine are sent to the chess memory server for storage and possible reuse.
Hotbabe Chess has been developed by a female programmer. Female programmers are frankly speaking very rare. Stephanie (the surname is not clear) belongs certainly to the picture.
JavaChess - a webbased program, that functions as a playing program as well as a game viewer. You may test it directly on the homepage. Extensive documentation in German.
jChecs is an open source Java chess program, designed to introduce the basics of computer chess programming concepts. Its main purpose is to be a chess programming sample, but it can be used "as is" by chess beginners. ELO rating just above 1700.
Jester is a webbased Java chess program.
Kaffeehaus-Schach - the chess club SK "Turm" Lage in Kachtenhausen, Germany, has submitted this weak Java chess program, to the web in order to encourage all those who defeat this program to join the club instead and play against humans.
Little ChessPartner 1.08 - you can play against this program, a predecessor of ChessPartner, on Free Blubbie Chess Server. The computer thinks only 2 half moves ahead, so “give it a go and try to beat it”, says the webmaster.
Maim Chess - Jason Doucette originally wrote this program as a Software Engineering project at Acadia University. Estimated ELO 2000. DOS-program, but it runs on some systems under Windows.
Marquis is a small, simple chess program, especially intended for blitz play and beginners. Roland Marquis from Swiss has made this program. Language: German and English.
NagaSkaki is a free, fully functional chess program for Windows 9x, NT and XP. Neels Groenewald also describes how NagaSkai is constructed.
Nejmet was regarded as one of the five best amateur programs in France 1999.
Pax Chess has been developed by Len Dorfman and the last version is from February 2001.
Rabbit has been developed by Roberto Waldteufel. The last version is from December 1998. Broken link 2/4 2004.
Ramanujan is a webbased chess program, that has been constructed by Bart-Jan Hommes. According to the designer, the program has a very comprehensive opening database. Language: Dutch.
RDChess - developed by Rudolf Posch - is not especially strong. In the first game I played against the program, I checkmated it in 27 moves.
Rookie has been developed by Andrew Dados - the last version is from October 1998.
Smart Neural Chess is a free program for beginners, which does not need so much space on the harddisc and which also works on older computers. Broken link 2/4 2004.
SMIRF - Reinhard Scharnagl is developing a chess program, which not only plays classical chess but also Chess960 (FisherRandomChess) and a variant on a board with 10 x 8 squares. There is a beta version with a German and an English interface.
Softtanks Chess Game is a webbased chess program. If you want to play against it on a higher level, you must register.
SRVChess, a free chess program with its own interface, which was submitted to the net in March 2005, has many functions – among other thing you can tune in the playing strength. Language: French.
Thinking Machine 4 - this program is actually a curiosity, because it plays extremely bad. It is a sort of artwork: when the machine (Black) is thinking, a network of curves is overlaid on the board. Webbased.
Waxman has been constructed by Ivan Bacigal - this version is from 1997. The last version of Waxman, 1.999, can be downloaded from Gareth Saunders´homepage.
Vektor 3, which also has a sister, Vanessa, is an award winning chess program for Mac OS X. It features an intuitive user interface, that takes full advantage of Mac OS X' Aqua interface. Due to Vektor3's multi-document approach, you can open and work with several documents at once.
Wilhelm - a German program (from 2001) with its own interface, actually a project for a degree, by Rafael B. Andrist. According to him an average club player can defeat the program.
WJChess - a chess program, which exists in a 2D version and a 3D version as well as a chess engine (estimated Elo 2150), compatible with Winboard and Arena Shareware. Language: French and English.
Multiple chess platforms (WinBoard and others)
A multiple chess platform has several important functions. You can 1) use it as a database and PGN-reader (replayer); 2) as a client to chess servers; and 3) install a chess engine in it, even arranging tournaments between chess engines. WinBoard, which is free, is the most known multiple chess platform, and there is downright a cult around the program. Some enthusiasts arrange tournaments between WinBoard-compatible engines. Read more at WinBoard-related pages.
Arena is a new graphical interface for chess engines by Martin Blume. It is compatible with WinBoard and UCI and runs on Windows 95 and later versions.
BabyChess is a program with its own interface, which also functions as a PGN-editor, chess engine and client for international chess servers. Free. Language: English.
ChessCommander is a commercial program, that may be used as a client, game viewer and as an e-mail program. The full version has four pre-installed chess engines, which you can play against. There is lite version with reduced functions.
Chessvision is a commercial counterpart to WinBoard. There is a fully functional demo version, which comes with Crafty pre-installed.
Deska functions as a PGN-viewer and interface to chess engines. The program is intended for for Linux/Unix compatible platforms. Language: English.
El ajedrez de Lucas - the platform comes with a pre-installed chess engine, Toga II 2.0 SE, which you can exchange for other chess engines. The platform contains several interesting functions for chess training. Language: Spanish.
Haundrix Chess is a free open source chess program that can be used for playing against your computer and for viewing/editing your PGN files. It comes with three chess engines for different playing styles.
HyperNetwork Chess is a Macintosh HyperCard based chess program and chess database that also allows play via modem or AppleTalk network.
InterFace is an instant-messenger program, including a chess game, e-mail and group-chat functions: a social media platform for chess enthusiasts. The program is open source and free of charge. You can easily add contacts in the "Friendslist", see when they are online and challenge them for a game of chess.
jose is a graphical chess tool. You can store chess games in a database, view games and edit variations and comments and play against a "plugged-in" chess engine or use it for analysis.
Knights, which has been developed by Troy Corbin Jr., is an interface for K Desktop Environment (a Linux platform). You may play against yourself, against computer opponents or against others over the Internet. You may save your unfinished matches and play them again later and also customize your board and pieces with over 30 different themes, or make your own.
Net Blitz II is a chess program, that lets you play a game against a computer or with 4 players in a Bughouse game. The program contains a strong chess engine; you can load and save games in PGN format; and the program is playable over the Internet or a local network. Languages: French and English.
Net Chess - a combined client, chess program and program for e-mail chess. Net Chess is delivered with a pre-installed chess engine, but other WinBoard-compatible chess engines may as well be installed. Trial period of 10 days - thereafter a registration fee of 14 $ is required.
Pirat has been developed by two eminent correspondence chess players, Klas and Jürgen Wolf. The program functions as an ordinary e-mail chess program, but it contains in addition to that many other features as database, administration-tool for correspondence tournaments, chess engine, access to the Nalimov tablebases and so on. Free. Languages: German and English.
Slibo aims to be a comfortable chess interface for KDE (Linux). The program has more functionality than the xboard chess interface and can therefore replace it. Slibo can be used with common chess engines like Crafty or Gnuchess, but it provides its own chess engine too.
Tim Mann´s Chess Pages - if you are interested in WinBoard, you must first download it of course.
WinBoard-related pages.
A tribute to WinBoard - Edward Collin´s page. Broken link.
BBchaton describes how to use WinBoard, especially in connecting chess servers. Language: French.
Echecs & Ram contains information about how to use Arena and WinBoard and a chess computer glossary. The webmaster has also developed some own programs. Language: French.
Frank´s Chess Page is the Winboard site number one. Everything concerning WinBoard is here. A lot of programs, tournament coverage and so on. Frank Quisinsky is not going to update this homepage anymore, because he will only work with Arena (see link above).
How to use Crafty with WinBoard by Mark Yatras.
Information about WinBoard by Frank Quisinsky and Volker Pittlik.
Linkebodas schacksidor also has an instruction how to install chess engines in WinBoard. Language: Swedish.
Günther Simon Computerchessite contains among others a rating list for WinBoard-compatible engines, which I have not seen before.
Aaron Tay has a very instructive page about WinBoard. Language: English.
WB Tourney Manager is a program to arrange tournaments between WinBoard-engines. Free.
Winboard Page by Lyapko George, who also has constructed the chess engine Bestia.
WinBoard Setup Page deals with how to install chess engines in WinBoard. Responsible: Mogens Larsen.
Tournaments between WinBoard-compatible engines are organized as said before - see Tournaments chess programs
Up! Main entrance!
(for WinBoard and other programs)
A chess engine has no interface, because the programmer wants to save himself of this part. Some programs are both equipped with an interface and WinBoard-compatible at the same time. The chess engines can not only be installed in WinBoard, Chessvision but also in commercial chess programs like the latest versions of Fritz. There are about 500 chess engines (2009). Here follows a limited selection - see the list below or go to Download sites.
Jim Ablett´s WinBoard Chess Projects lists lots of chess engines.
Anthology of released Winboard (Xboard)/UCI programs sorted by names contained no less than 492 chess engines on the 27th December 2009.
Alarm has been constructed by Benny Antonsson and Erik Robertsson, both from Karlskrona, a town in southern Sweden. Language: English.
Anaconda (which was named Gromit until 2003) is available as engine for Chessbase, for Smartphone 2003 and for handhelds.
AnMon by Christian Barreteau, France, is regarded as a strong program.
Aristarch is a chess engine, developed by Stefan Zipproth. In fact Aristarch gets on very well against commercial programs – see for example CSS-Computer Rating List from November 1 2004. Languages: German and English.
Bionic by Hans Secelle and Albrecht Heffer, Belgium, is a cloned variant of Crafty.
CCP1 - an experimental OO chess program, not because of the bugs but because of the algorithms used. It does not play with brute force either. Language: English.
Chess engine - a well-informed article from Wikipedia about chess engines. A chess engine is a chess playing program that does not have its own user interface. Previously they ran on user interfaces such as for example WinBoard – nowadays most commercial chess programs allow additional engines to be loaded.
Cilian is developed by Francois Scheurer from Swiss and is not considered as a strong program.
Computer-Chess Wiki - here you can discover hard-to-find information about how to download, set up, and run chess engines – both free and commercial – in various chess GUIs such as Winboard, Arena, Chessbase, etc. There's no fees, but membership has privileges: only members can create new wiki pages or edit existing ones.
Crafty, which has been developed by Bob Hyatt, USA, is the classical chess engine, maybe the strongest one next to Ruffian. Crafty is pre-installed in the latest version of Fritz, Chessvision and is used as an analyze engine in Chess Assistant.
Critter has been developed by Rickard Vida from Slovakia. Critter took the fourth place on Computer Chess rating list from the 5th of May 2012.
Embracer - a WinBoard compatible chess engine, has been constructed by Benny Antonsson.
Fruit, which has been developed by Fabien Letouzey since 2004, took the third place on the SSDF rating list from June 8 2006, ahead of for example Fritz. Fruit 2.1 and older versions can be downloaded from WBC Ridderkerk. Nowadays a team develops Fruit.
Gaïa - chess engine, which has been developed by Jean-Francois Romang and David Rabel. Language: English.
Glaurung is available as a free UCI (the "Universal Chess Interface") chess engine for Mac OS X, Linux and Windows. Glaurung, which has been developed by Tord Romstad, is a very strong chess engine. Version 2.2. was at the eleventh place on the SSDF rating list from the 20th of September 2009.
GNU Chess - a description about how to install GNU Chess in Winboard. Language: French.
Gringo has been developed by Markus Binder. ”The playing strength is not so good, but who cares”, he writes. Language: English.
Hispanic Chess Engines - the aim of this page is to promote the chess engines of Hispanic American authors, using the Winboard and UCI protocols. Languages: Spanish and English.
Houdini - this chess engine, developed by Robert Houdart, is presently leading (February 2012) most rating lists for chess programs. The programmer points out that he has used many ideas and techniques from Open Source chess engines such as Ippolit and Stockfish. Houdini is available in both free and commercial versions.
Komodo is a very powerful chess engine, that has been developed by Larry Kaufmann and Don Dailey. It was ranked number six on Computer Chess rating list from the 5th of May 2012.
LambChop has been developed by Peter McKenzie, New Zealand, and is a rather strong program.
Little Goliath by Michael Borgstädt, Germany, is also a strong program.
Mint Chess is constructed by Christan Söderström, Sweden, and has been programmed to play unevenly. A nice idea.
Naum 4 is a very strong Winboard-/UCI-compatible chess engine. This chess engine took the second place, just behind Rybka, on the SSDF list from the 20th of September in 2009.
Needle is a freeware Winboard-compatible chess engine, constructed by Mikko Nummelin from Finland. Language: English.
Onno, that was released in May 2009, is a very strong, professional chess engine, that also can be used to analyse chess games. Onno uses UCI to communicate with a chess GUI. The program is so strong – Elo rating between 2860 and 2900 – that it competes with Naum about the second place behind Rybka. Languages: German and English.
Oswald 0.43 is a weak WinBoard-compatible chess engine by guarantee.
Prédateur - you can also play against this chess engine on FICS, where you can download a necessary interface.
Pro Deo 1.0 - Ed Schröder, the creator of Rebel, has released a free chess engine, Pro Deo 1.0 (estimated Elo 2700), that is stronger than Rebel 12. You can install it in ChessPartner as well as ChessBase. Language: English.
Quark - Tomas Mayer has been working with this chess engine, which is constantly developed, since November 2000. Languages: German and English.
Ruffian is constructed by Per-Ola Valfridsson, Sweden. On Arena October 2002 you could read : "For several weeks now, the chess computer community have witnessed almost unbelievable results by a Swedish chess engine. Beta-testers have reported results which give reasons to assume that Ruffian is one of the best chess engines ever published." Freeware. Language: English.
RWBC Chess lists a number of older chess engines, which no longer have any active homepages. Language: English.
SOS by Rudolf Huber, Germany, a program which can compete with the commercial programs.
Stockfish is an exceptionally strong open-source UCI chess engine, which is confirmed by several rating lists. The software is developed by Tord Romstad, Marco Costalba, and Joona Kiiski.
Terra - Peter Fendrich, Sweden, has constructed this program to keep his knowledge in programming alive. Language: English.
(Lists of chess engines - see also Download sites)
Chess Engines contains besides a list with 145 chess engines, also short news about chess engines and updates.
Computer Schach Ecke by Uwe Jakoby. The main part consists of a survey of more than 200 chess engines. Languages: English and German.
Engins WinBoard Homepage contains an extensive catalogue of WinBoard-engines.
Arnold Koschorrek has a list with marks of Winboard-compatible chess engines. Language: German.
Thomas Mayers Winboard Engine Overview lists about 90 Winboard-compatible chess engines.
Schach-Engines für Linux lists chess engines, which can be run in Linux, including some advices about how to install certain chess engines. Language: German.
are primarily used to store, sort (according to different criterias) and analyse games, not to play against.Bookbuilder is described as a "highly advanced chess opening program". Crafty is used as an analysis machine. There is a demo version.
Bookup 2000 uses Crafty as an analyse machine. There is a demo version, Bookup Lite, which has too many limitations. It is rather a PGN-reader (game replayer) with comments.
Chess Academy. The latest version is both a database and a chess tutorial. Robert Pawlak compares Chess Academy with Chessbase and ChessAssistant in a review from 18/11 2001.
ChessAssistance.com - Robert Pawlak has created this site, that concentrates on how to use Chess Assistant. The advices are certainly initiated.
Chess Assistant is ChessBase´s foremost rival and uses somewhat different analysis methods. The latest version, 6.0, has two inside machines, Tiger 13.0 och Tiger Gambit, and a database with 1,5 million games. Observe - there is since the autumn 2001 a free version of 6.0, Chess Assistant Light. Test it!
ChessBase is an absolutely leading chess database - and expensive. The latest version, ChessBase 8, contains a lot of search functions, a number of chess engines, player portraits, which appear when you fetch a game from the database and so on. There is also a functional free version, ChessBase Light, which can store 6000 games. Steve Lopez gives pieces of advice on how to use ChessBase in his Electronic T-notes.
ChessBrain-Edit is a sort of database, a PGN-editor together with 500000 games on a CD (PGN = Portable Game Notation, one of the formats in which games can be stored).
ChessDB is a free database, which is based on Scid and works on several operating systems. The program can do nearly everything what a commercial chess database can do. The next version will also make it possible to download games from ICC and FICS. Extensive documentation in English, but also in many other languages.
Chess Informant Expert is the latest program from Chess Informant. There is a free beta version wholly compatible with all previous versions of Chess Informant Reader and the electronical publications of Chess Informant. CIE can handle both PGN and CIR database files.
Chess Position Trainer manages effectively your chess material, CD´s, books and databases. According to the developer, who is an experienced programmer, you can build up your own repertoire and training positions within minutes. You can also directly import your repertoire from ChessBase, ChessAssistant and BookUp. Free.
ChessTool PGN is a free chess database for games in PGN format. Crafty is used as an analyse engine. Language: Spanish.
Chessvision functions besides as a client also as a positional database. The link to the original producer, Microvision, is broken, but the demo version may still be downloaded from ZDNet and the full version bought from Sybex.
ClubMate is a relatively cheap database - 40£. There are both a free and a demo version. I can not find an analysing machine in the demo version and therefore is actually only a game replayer (PGN-reader).
ExaChess is a database for Macintosh, that supports the most important formats. There is a light version for download.
Masterchess 3000 is an inexpensive (about 30 dollar) "yet powerful chess database/playing program" according to the product information. It comes with the Crafty Chess engine and a 1.4 million game database. You can buy the database from the London Chess Centre - no information about the constructor or the producer.
MonRoi - company, based in Canada, which, according to the product information, has developed a simple and sleek device, Personal Chess Manager, that allows chess players to record, electronically store and review chess matches. Those games can also be viewed in real time at MonRoi´s web-site. MonRoi's Professional Tournament Manager collects data from Personal Chess Manager devices in real-time and can broadcast chess matches live. MonRoi has also developed its World DataBank of Chess where tournament games are stored for viewing and analysis.
PGN Mentor is described by the producer as a combined database and chess tutorial. Cheap - 35 dollar. There is a demoversion.
PosBase is a positional chess database. According to the programmer PosBase provides easy and quick access to information about when particular moves in a game were played, or who played the move. Price: US$20/€17. You can also download ChessPad, a free game viewer, from this site.
Scid, (Shane´s chess information database), a free database application both for Windows and Unix. Scid saves games in its own format (which may be converted to PGN), which makes it possible to download game files faster than those in PGN-format. There is also a special discussion forum for SCID. Scid is presently (10/3 2007) developed by Pascal Georges.
SuperPro is a Hungarian chess database. There is a demo version in DOS.
Tasc ChessSystem´s latest chess database was called TascBase 2.0. It has an integrated chess program, "The King", which - if my memory not fails me - also is used in Chessmaster and which has been written by Johan de Koning. The company has ceased to exist and TascBase 2.0 is no longer manufactured. This site contains archived information about the program. It seems still possible to download a demo version of TascBase 2.0 as well as some retailers still store the program.
Game viewers (game replayers, PGN-Readers etc.)
is used to store and replay games. Some replayers are limited to read games in PGN-format, that is PGN-Readers. Most of the replayers are free. I have used WinBoard, ChessPad and ChessBD (SLICS) as replayers.
Alexandra Kosteniuk´s Chess PGN Player - Tobias Feigel and Ray Wilson have developed a webbased game viewer for Alexandra Kosteniuk. You can replay Chess960 (FischerRandomChess) games as well as standard chess games, including your own games, by copying and pasting from a PGN or text file.
Chess Data Base creates databases with chess games and positions and keeps track of all known moves in a position as well as game statistics. Games can be imported from the user interface as well as PGN, text, NIC, ChessBase or Chess Assistant. Download from chessdb.com – ”Links/Software”.
Chesscat is a program for reading and writing chess games using Portable Game Notation (PGN). The program is free for personal use.
ChessFlash PGN Viewer is a free PGN Viewer, which can be installed on a website for replaying chess games.
ChessGeek.com is a free program, which can be used both as a screen saver and PGN-reader.
ChessNPro is a PGN-reader, which "can read and manipulate large PGN archives". There is a demoversion.
ChessPad is a nice and functional game viewer, which can store 250000 games. Free, but the Palm version (broken link) costs 25 $.
Chess Publisher - a free game viewer, which seems to function without any problem, for chess blogs.
ChesSaver 3.0 costs 20 dollar. But it is hardly worth spending 20 dollars on a game replayer, when there are so many free ones. But there is a demo version, which can be used 30 times.
Chess Spectator Database - rather a game viewer, because the programs lacks an analyse engine. But you may play against the program. Free.
ChessTheatre is a free program to view and publish PGN chess databases. You can use it to view your chess games on your own PC, but also share them with others on the internet by using the integrated publishing function.
ChessViewer can be installed on a website. Not free.
Chess Viewer Deluxe is a full featured Java applet, designed to present chess games on the Web. Its main purpose is to let users enjoy the games in an intuitive, user-friendly environment.
Chess VU - a chess game viewer for Windows offers a comprehensive set of viewing and editing functions, in PGN and CBF formats. Shareware.
Kevin Coulombe has developed this free Java PGN viewer. It has many interesting features (users may modify the PGN in real-time and actually move the pieces around to explore the game). The program is very small (62 Kb) but yet fast – no lag, even with games of 200 moves or more.
Ecw Chess Viewer Beta 1.0. 2 - replayer from Russia. Product information in English.
J!Chess Viewer is a free game replayer, which can be installed on a website.
KenChess Basics can be downloaded from WinSite, where you also can find further product information.
LT-PGN-Viewer 1.2 is a new PGN-reader, which can be installed on a website.
Misty Beach PGN Viewer is a Java applet that takes a chess PGN-file in "reduced export format" and displays a chess board with buttons allowing a viewer to step through the game. For installation on webpages. The program was constructed in 1998 and is free for non-commercial use.
Montreaux Chess Game Viewer is a free game replayer intended for websites. The latest version is named 4.32 and seems to be modified 5/9 2001.
MyChessViewer 2.2 is a Java PGN-reader, which has been installed on many websites. Very well designed program. Free.
pgn2html - Werner Müller has constructed this free game viewer, which works with all browsers. It is demonstrated on the homepage too. Language: German.
PGN Edit is described on Paul Onstad´s U4Chess and may be downloaded from HotDownloads.com . The program appears with several chess boards and can store 100000 games. Shareware with time limit - and after that 29 dollars.
PGN Mentor 3.0 costs 25 dollars. There is a demoversion.
PGN Utilities - lots of PGN-utilities to download.
PGN Web Editor - game replayer intended for websites. Beta version with comprehensive product information.
PGN World Viewer 1.01 can also be installed on a website. Free.
Video Chess Coach - webbased game replayer. I have tried it twice, but it has not functioned.
WiseBoard Editor - interactive online chessboard: set up an arbitrary position, make moves, and navigate through the history of your moves. Play chess positions which require more pieces than you have available or use for position analysis.
Clients are used to connect to chess servers or to play via intranet. Many playsites have their own clients, which are not listed here.
BabasChess is a new FICS interface for Windows. It will be free and it will support only free chess servers.
BoxChess 1.7 - Canadian program, that can be used as a chess program as well as a client for play on LAN or Internet.
Bughouse Software Downloads - with different clients for Bughouse.
Checkmate - client designed for chess servers like FICS. According to the presentation the program has many features, which cannot be found in other clients. Free.
Chess Machine is a program for playing, following and analysing chess on internet. The last sentence, "analysing chess", I interpret as you are able to analyse a game while it is played, that is cheating. But what is the sense with cheating?
ChessBD, also called SLICS, functions both as a client and a replayer.
Chess client for Palm OS which should allow you to play a game of chess on FICS or ICC.
ChessRally2 is a combined client and chess program and may obviously also be used for e-mail chess. There is a demo version.
D-Chess:INetBlixt is a client to internet and intranet. You can also play against several opponents at the same time.
Fixation is a chess client for ICC, FICS, US Chess Live and chess.net (with limited support). Fixation only runs on Macintosh computers. Version 2.0 was developed by Adam Miller.
Freak was written by Tommy Staffans and is not updated any longer.
iNemesis is a graphical interface for playing chess on the ICC and FICS servers. It is based on CClient, but has a comletely new user interface and offers many more features.
InterChess - client especially designed for FICS.
Interface Reviews - reviews of different clients by J. Varsoke on Chessville. For those who choose their client with outmost care.
IRC Chess is a graphical interface, which allows you to connect to your opponent by using his IP-address.
Jin - a program by Alexander Maryanovsky. The program can be used for connecting to ICC as well as FICS.
Kasia is a program, which allows you to play a game of chess on internet or intranet. According to the product information "it offers trouble-free play over the poorest of connections, integrates with ICQ, and supports standard PGN & FEN notations".
MacICC is a client for Macintosh for connecting to FICS. Freeware so far.
Mobi is a FICS and ICC chess client for portable devices. Most modern mobile telephones comply with the technical requirements. The currently supported languages are English and Swedish. The program has been beta tested and can be downloaded free.
NetChess permits you to play against an opponent on internet or intranet. Games can be imported and saved. Facilities of chat and other unique features.
Netz-Schach V1.6 has been developed by Jörgen Hoffmann. The program can be used as a client for play via intranet and as an e-mail chess program. In the latter case the opponent does not need to have access to the program. Language: German.
Oueen-Talk Chess - Open Source Chess Software for Internet Chess with Friends in a Messenger.
Reindeer is a program that connects to ICC and allows you to chat easily, play chess and more. The programmer wanted a BlitzIn with more options, to learn more about internet programming and to win a science fair – and he successfully accomplished all three.
Thief is a client for ICC/FICS, written by av Zon Jan (known as WhoAmI on FICS). Download from : http://www.jinchess.com/thief/. The second most used client on FICS after WinBoard. The program is not developed anymore.
Varese 0.2.0. (Celaeno), client, especially designed for FICS, runs on Windows, as well as Linux and Mac OS X. Detailed and impressive product information. Language: English. (Chess software/Clients)
WinBoard, Chessvision (see Multiple chess platforms) and ChessPartner (see Chess programs) can also be used to connect to chess servers like ICC, FICS and chess.net.
Up! Main entrance!
Some of these programs are webbased. So long as they do not function as go-betweens for players, that is you have to find your opponent yourself, they can not be regarded as playsites.
ActionCenter.com also has a simple, webbased program for correspondence chess.
ChessComment may be used for playing chess by e-mail as well as continuously analysing and commenting the games. Very easy to use. Instructions in English, French, German and Swedish.
DBS Chess Recorder program - David B. Sugden started to develop this program in 1995. It is used to record the moves and analysis in your e-mail and postal games. It also allows you to store your collection of games.
Eschack.com has produced a program, which functioned the time I used it. Free. Languages: Swedish or English.
Echess - with the same name as the former one and which also seems to be easy to handle. Free.
Ectool, which is considered as one of the best programs for correspondence and e-mail chess, is nowadays freeware. The program has many features in addition to the usual ones: you can incorporate an analyse engine (Rebel) into the program, it can scan your inbox for new moves and you can save the position as a GIF picture.
EZChess is a free program for e-mail chess.
IceChess may be tested in 90 days. The program is easy to use.
Mailchess seems to have many functions. Among other thing it is possible to integrate a database with the mailbox. Several of my chess friends on internet, who use Mailchess, considers it as a very good program.
Pirat - an e-mail chess program with many functions. See also description in the sub-section "Multiple chess platforms".
Sound Chess - a webbased program, that functions without any problems and also seems popular. You can either find an opponent yourself or via an e-group by Yahoo.
Stefan schacksida - webbased program for e-mail chess. Language: Swedish.
Tech Stop has an e-mail chess program, which may be tested in 30 days.
thatgame - program from Australia.
W3Chess is a free Web- and mailbased chess program. All moves are made through the web browser and the opponent is informed simultaneously. The program is written in a simple programming language.
Vunzzz Chess - a webbased program still on the beta stadium, but it works. Colourless interface.
www.golops.com has a webbased program for correspondence chess, but you must find your opponent yourself. You may also use Crafty as an analyse engine or play against it.
You will find homepages, which chiefly are devoted to chess training, in the section Chess training.
50 Chess Games for Beginners is an animated tutorial for new players, who want to improve their game.
Blind Chess for DOS is intended for blindfold chess training, but the program can also be set to show the board. It will also work under all Windows versions and run on many handhelds.
Chess Analysis Pro 7000 - in the advance publicity it is said that the program “is extraordinary in its ability to analyze your own chess games in the most useful and detailed way available. With this information you can clearly see what's holding you back and more to the point what professional strategies your missing out on.” Price about 30 Canadian dollars.
Chess Flashcard Trainer 3.15 - a chess tutorial, that automatically generates training problems downloaded for free off the internet. It also automatically scores each exercise's difficulty. The full version costs $ 14, but there is also a demo version with certain limitations.
Chessimo – Chessimo´s method of training is based on solving the exercises the program produces. If it takes too long to solve the various tactical, strategical and endgame exercises, the program displays the right solution and let you train again on a similar position. There is a demo version. Language: German.
Chess Mentor is a tutorial, which has existed since 1995. There is a demo version.
Chessology is a free tutorial. The program helps you to play chess using colors; all the good moves are colored green and the bad moves are colored red.
Chess Puzzles Games Web Site contains a number of tutorials.
chess-repertoire.de sells various chess training programs, with regard to opening repertoire as well as tactics. Language: German.
Chess Teacher by Bill Jordan teaches the chess rules for the absolute beginner. About 10 dollar.
Chess Tree applies some new ideas concerning the design of the tutorial. You can follow an opening diagram, place yourself on a nod and all of a sudden the position is visualized on a board.
Chess Vision Trainer 1.5 as well as Chess Workbook is produced by Chess Technologies. According to their own product information Chess Vision Trainer improves your visualization and move calculation skills in chess.
Chessworkouts exists in a demo version.
Fritz & Chesster - this chess tutorial for beginners from ChessBase was awarded in 2003. There is now a second part.
KataChess is a chess training system for players who want to improve their game. The Katachess technique uses series of puzzles and focuses on pattern recognition.
Matt-Trainer - a free program for training mate problems. There is also a special database on CD with 500 mate exercises. Language: German.
The Chess Eye - offline step-by-step exercises, which help you to increase your chess visualisation. Shareware version of ”Chess Visualisation Training”.
ThoughtTrainer is a wholly new tutorial containing 12 lessons, which has been constructed by GMChess, a company, in which GM Alexander Khalifman is a member.
Total Chess Training contains CT-ART 3.0, Strategy 2.0, Encyclopedia of Middlegames, Studies 2.0, Encyclopedia of Opening Blunders - an advanced package from Convekta, which also produces ChessAssistant. The package costs about 100 dollars.
Portable chess computers (electronic chess boards)
If you absolutely must play chess while travelling, or in the summer house, or if you absolutely wants to touch the pieces, then a portable chess computer is probably necessary. Port chess computers can not any longer compete with chess programs regarding playing strength. Nor regarding prices - for about 50 dollars you can get a first class chess program, but not an especially strong electronic chess board.
Alte Schachcomputer - for those who want to bury themselves in old portable chess computers like Mephisto, Saitek, Fidelity, Novag and other brands. You can even get a piece of good advice how to clean a computer like that. Language: German.
Chess Computer Collectors Site - a site, which is intended to support collectors of electronic chess boards.
Chess Computer UK - Mike Watters has a very impressive collection of electronic chess boards.
Chesscomputers.org - the purpose of this site, managed by Ismenio Sousa, is to share information about chess computers and collecting them.
Classic Chess and Games specializes in portable chess computers. Large sortiment.
Elite Electronic Chess has an ELO about 2000 and costs approximately 250 dollars.
Les Diodes du Roi - this site addresses those who are enchanted by stand-alone chess computers, especially those who want to know more about the subject. Language: French.
Mes jeux d'échecs électroniques - the proprietor collects as well as sells electronic chess boards, which he also reviews. Language: French.
Millenium produces pocket computers as well as classical electronic chessboards, for example Karpov Schachpartner. There are several models of pocket chess computers – the latest addition is Touch Chess & Games. Languages: German and English.
NeoChess - this site is devoted to electronic chess boards, and has been created for the purpose of communicating - as far as possible - to collectors some practical information. Language: French.
Novag is a well-known brand.
Saitek - the same concerns Saitek.
Schachteufel.de - a site for those, who preferred – or prefer – to play against a physical chess computer rather than a program on the screen. Language: German.
The Overtorm Chess Computer Museum - the collection was started in May 1979. At the moment, the collection comprises 411 chess computers, 185 of which are specially designed for travelling.
TheStones Brettschachcomputer-Seite - a collection of portable chess computers, that are described in texts and pictures. Language: German.
Alybadix solves all kinds of chess problems up to 100 moves. See Ilkka Blom´s substantial homepage, which also contains information about related programs. The latest version was released in 2010.
ChessExplorer is designed to solving orthodox chess problems: direct mates, selfmates and helpmates up to 63 moves.
Chess Problems by Computer - in December 2003 François Labelle wrote a program to search for chess games that are completely determined by the last move. Languages: English and French.
CHEST is a program for solving orthodox chess problems, that has been developed by Heiner Marxen. Language: English.
EGChessPro is a freeware program that helps to compose, to solve and to store endgames studies and chess problems with FEN, EPD and PGN formats.
Euclide
0.92, which has been developed by Etienne
Dupuis, is used to compose proof games. Help file in English.
Gustav, which has been developed by Olaf Jenkner, and which search through orthodox chess problems and solve them up to 32 moves.
MateMaster is a program used for constructing and solving chess problems.
Mater - a simple mate searching program.
Natch is a software solving a special kind of chess problems, proof games, a variant of retrograde analysis. Languages: French and English.
Problemiste solves orthodox chess problems.
Retractor is a program for composing retrograde analysis chess problems. In retrograde analysis chess problems, one is given a position and asked to deduce some historical information about it, such as what the last n moves were, and so forth.
Web-Abfrage der Nalimov Endgame Tablebases - you can set up a position with six pieces, including kings, and then the webbased program calculates how many moves are needed, for example for white, to mate black. Various variants are also displayed. Language: German.
Winchloe - a program for chess problems written by Christan Poisson. Language French but with help file in English. The database contains 100000 problems.
Diagram utilities and chess fonts
Alpine Fonts - fonts for chess and other games.
Chess Captor is a program for constructing chess diagrams.
Chess Helper v3 is an almost free program for creating chess diagrams.
ChessMaker - utilities for chess diagrams on the net.
ChessOle - free chess diagram utility for Windows, which produces diagrams which can be inserted in almost any text. Language: German.
ChessUp.net - create chess diagrams free online.
Chess Word Macros & Fonts - section by Chessvariants, which is run by Hans Bodlaender.
Czech - HTML generator for Chess by David Zechiel, is an easy to use program that automatically generates HTML for chess games. You can download a fully functional evaluation copy of Czech (release 2.1).
DIAGOL is a PHP program, that generates chess diagrams dynamically from an indicated position according to usual notation (though in French) or from a FEN notation.
DiagTransfer has two original main features, namely to copy diagrams to another programs or to web pages.
Enpassant - the Danish club has a very comprehensive list of downloadable utilities for chess diagram and fonts in different contexts.
EPD2diag V1.5P5, is produced by Rebel, a program for constructing chess diagrams, which besides can be connected with an analyse machine, Rebel Decade 2.0. Exhaustive product information on the home page of Rebel.
FullChess FEN-Editor and Position Generator permits an editing of chess positions, particularly for Fischer Random Chess and its castling rules, but of course for the normal game too.
GenDiagW - a program, that easily generates chess diagrams. Languages: French and English.
JDIAG, Java Chess Diagram Applet, foremost intended for desktop publishing.
Schachdiagramm-Editor to insert chess diagrams in texts for printing. The program has been developed, so that positions can be saved in a database. Language: German.
WebChess Designer - a free program for creating chess diagrams, not only for web sites.
Tournament and administration programs
Links to sites, which above all are devoted to how to organize and administrate tournaments, are listed in the category Tournaments.
Chess Club Manager - an administration program for chess clubs. SchoolChess.com also manufactures interactive chess tutorials.
Chess League Manager is a tournament and administration program, which was originally developed in 2008 for the Oldenburg chess district in Ostfriesland, Germany. The project has grown somewhat since then and today employschess players as developers all over in Germany. CLM is a plugin program for Joomla, a CMS. It contains several necessary functions and CLM has even started to be used outside Germany. Language: German.
Chess Manager is a program, that has been developed by Poul Erik Riis and Jens Riis. It is a chess pairing program, which also computes rating, place and final result and so on. Freeware. Language: Danish.
Chess Tournament Management Program - a new tournament program, which has been developed by FIDE.
Fianchetto is a free chess tournament manager for Swiss tournaments. It is not intended for on-line tournaments, but its aim is the management of traditional chess tournaments, those with a board and chess pieces.
FischerRandom is a free tournament program developed by Nicklas Johansson. It was used in connection with the District Championships in Stockholm on the 31st of March 2002.
JavaPairing - this is a tool to manage a chess tournament, team or individual, i.e. player registration, round generation, results, ranking & crosstable, report to FED and WEB site generation. Implemented engines are: Swiss Dutch FIDE, Swiss Dubov, Swiss Simple, Swiss Perfect Colours, Amalfi Rating and Round Robin. Languages: German, English, French and Italian.
MonradMester 2.1 - the program began to be developed already in 1994. MonradMester may handle groups with up to 64 players in 14 rounds, calculates places and rating for a whole tournament and contains also a club database, tournament budget and so forth. Free. Language: Danish.
NextPairing - freeware for administration of tournaments according to the Swiss system. It is a simple program, but fully sufficient for administration of internal club tournaments. Download the program from the ”Download”-section on the club site of SK Langen. Language: German.
PairTwo 3.07 is a chess pairing program, which is used by the Belgian Chess Federation. The program has been constructed by Bernard Malfliet. Free. Language: French.
P.A.P.I. (Programme d´Appariement Pour Internet) by Erick Mouret. The latest version has the designation 3.0. Language: French.
P.A.S.S. (Programme d´Appariement au Système Suisse) for chess tournaments with GNU/Linux. Language: French.
Rundenturnier Verwaltung - a tournament and administration program. There is a demo version – size 25 Mb. Language: German.
Schach-Ergebnisdienst, a program, which has been developed since 2006, is used to administer chess leagues. Open source code. It is used by some German chess federations as well as districts.
SchachVereinBoss 2000 - five tournament and administration programs with different functions. There is an extensive product information. Language: German.
Sevilla is a tournament administration program by JP Hendriks - see also the viewer Montreux.
SOSS is a program of the kind that pairs the players in chess tournaments, a so called "chess pairing program". SOSS is a bit different from other chess pairing programs in that it has a strong focus on the complete event, not only the pairing. Languages: Swedish and English.
Swiss Chess manufactures programs for organizing tournaments.
Swiss Master is a tournament program, which is approved by FIDE. The latest version from 2008 is presently being updated.
Swiss Perfect - a tournament program used for example by the Australian chess federation. Demo version which works in 30 days.
Swiss-Sys - a tournament program. There is a demo version.
Systeem Keizer - Dutch tournament and administration program. The program was last updated in September 2004.
TDX v1.5 follows the basic Swiss-system pairing rules and should, according to the constructor Kent Smotherman, suffice for most small to medium chess tournaments. Language: English.
Top Turnier 9.6.6 - this freeware, that was originally developed as a DOS-program in 1995, can be run under all Windows versions. Last updated on the 2nd of February 2010. Language: German.
Torneos 2.0 - a free tournament program, which can run all-against-all tournaments with a maximum of 29 players. The program is also able to compute changes in the Elo of the players, which tournament results may produce. Language: Spanish.
Tournament Director allows you to organise and run chess tournaments. It is specifically designed to run chess tournaments under the British Chess Federation (BCF) rules and regulations.
TurneringsService 6.01 offers automatic Internet publishing, a welcome/invitation page, support for online signup via Internet, continuous round bulletins, continuously updated results, games for viewing from the net etcetera – and all this in multiple languages. Main languages: Norwegian and English.
Turniersystem – the program organizes tournaments according to the Swiss system and the FIDE rules. This could be done by the website or by downloading and buying the program. Language: German.
Vega is a tournament program according to the rules of FIDE. The constructor decided to develop this program due to a tragic experience of a tournament, where a common program was used. Language: Italian.
Windows TD - a chess tournament pairing program for Swiss system and Round Robin tournaments. Demo version.
Windows-Turnierverwaltung 4.12, which has been developed by Hans-Jürgen Werner and can be downloaded from the website of SK Freising, can administer tournaments with maximally 39 rounds and 254 players. Language: German.
Autoplayer 232 - equipment and program, which make it possible for two chess programs each on a computer to play against each others.
Black Eagle is a small a program that can convert YahooChess Game Notation(Yahoo game scores ) to PGN format. It can be freely downloaded and used.
CBASCII is a program for converting ChessBase files to and from different ASCI-formats, the most usual is PGN.
Erik Cederlöf, SchackOnline, has constructed a web based rating counter. Language: Swedish.
Chess Calculator will help you to determine quickly and precisely your ELO-rating. Free.
Chess Clock - a free program, which functions as a chess clock, and which you for example can install on a laptop to place beside the chess board.
Chess Game Notation File Converter - this program converts games with chess notation in PGN-format from one language to another. If you collect games, it is a problem that the chess pieces are abbreviated differently in different languages. Converting ability from Greek, German, French, Italian and Spanish to/from English is already included in the program. But you might add your own converting languages to the program.
ChessOnMobile is the first chess application specifically designed to view chess games on smartphones and other mobile internet devices. The games will be updated daily.
Chess Rating Calculator - Chess Express Ratings, Inc. has a web based rating calculator. The webmasters also encourage a discussion about the shortcomings of the present rating system.
Chess Software Tools sells various programs capable of formatting and manipulation of chess games in PGN or FEN. These tools offer time-saving ways to work and view PGN games and positions.
DGTProjects makes DGT Chess Clock, an electronic chess clock, and DGT Electronic Chess Board, which can be connected to an ordinary computer.If you play long games on internet or against a chess program, it might be advantageous to test the moves on a board
Elo Calc 2.6 - ELO-calculator.
Elo-kalkulator for sjakk - Norwegian webbased ELO-calculator.
Harald Lögdahl, who plays in Eskilstuna SK, Sweden, has developed a program, Sendchessgames (in English), with which you can upload PGN files to a Java viewer on Internet. Besides he has developed a chess pairing program and rating caculator.
Nalimov Tablebase Server is an interactive webbased tablebase server, and has been produced by Lokasoft, which also manufactures ChessPartner.
Rankingprogram - Jan Carlsson, from Järfälla in Sweden, constructed this rating program 1999.
Rating 2004 is according to the product information a powerful, highly configurable tool for working with FIDE chess rating, at home or at the chess tournament. You can test a fully functional version during 20 days.
Yahoo 2 PGN Converter - this webbased utility converts a game stored in Yahoo Format to PGN. Douglass Davis has improved this program by fixing a few bugs. It now works on Firefox, handles en passant and unfinished games. You can test it on his site.
A Beginner´s Guide to Chess Programming - this concise introduction has been prepared by Adam Oellerman, who also has written a strong Draughts engine, and is currently working on a brand-new chess engine.
A guide to Endgame Tablebases deals with how to set up endgame tablebases.
Len Ameeral, who has constructed the program Queen, has a lot of information about programming on his site.
A Tour of My Chess Game contains a detailed description on how to construct a PGN-Reader.
Beta Chess deals with tests of beta versions of commercial chess programs.
ChessGML means the Chess Game Markup Language. It is an application of XML, World Wide Webs Consortium´s Extensible Markup Language. ChessGML aims to provide an open, standardardized data format for the exchange and publication of any kind of chess data.
ChessPatterns.com contains links to sites, which treat various aspects of chess programming.
Chess Programming - six articles about chess programming by Francois-Dominic Laramée.
Chess Programming Wiki is a repository of information about programming computers to play chess. The goal is to provide a reference for every aspect of chess-programming including information about programmers, researchers and engines. An extremely substantial website.
Comment les ordinateurs jouent-ils aux échecs (How computers play chess) - an article about the history of chess programming and the technics used by Vincent Renardias. Language: French.
Como funcionan las programas de ajedrez - a short article about chess programming by Antonio Dieguez. Language: Spanish.
Computer Chess Programming by Paul Verhelst with a huge amount of links to computer chess.
Computer Schach und Spiele is an advanced German web site about computer chess. Language: German.
Dark Thought has been constructed by Magnus Gille and Ernst A.Heinz. The page contains an exhaustive description of Dark Thought, tournament results and so forth.
Digital Chess is an online service, which not only offers computer chess news from the whole world but also helps in constructing chess programs. Publishes a newsletter. Languages: Greek and English.
Geometry - the online learning center - with more than 80 links to computer chess.
How chess computers work - interesting article by Marshall Brain (!) about chess programming. According to him there are about 10 squared 120 possible positions on the chess board. Compare that with the fact that the universe only contains 10 squared 75 atoms.
How computers play chess - short article about chess programming by Neels Groenwald.
International Computer Games Association, previous ICCA, was renamed 2002. The ICGA's broader scope reflects the more general way in which computer- game capability contributes to Artificial Intelligence and to the human experience of game-playing (just a quotation). ICGA is associated with the university in Maastricht, Netherlands.
Louis Kessler´s Chess and Computer Chess Links. Louis Kessler was involved in chess programming in the seventies.
Jeff Mallet´s home page contains links to chess programming, programmers, tournaments between chess progams and so on.
Mediocre Chess - for those who want to follow the creation of a chess engine from scratch to beating the webmaster.
Memory versus Search in Games - this is the title of Dennis Breuker´s Ph.D. Thesis from 1998. The topics of this Ph.D. Thesis are Artificial Intelligence, and computer game playing (mostly Chess and Domineering). Languages: English and Dutch.
PermanentBrain is a German website about computer chess. Language: German.
Programming a Computer for Playing Chess was written by Claude Shannon for Philosophical Magazine 1949.
Projekt D3 Schackdator - a description of a project from the institution for computer science at Chalmers in Gothenburg, Sweden. Language: Swedish.
Schackprogram i Javascript - for those who are interested in knowing how a chess program written in JavaScript works. Language: Swedish.
Schachprogramm - a very initiated Wikipedia article about how chess programs are constructed. So far only in German.
Schackprogrammet Amundsen - John Bergbom has written an interesting paper (PDF file) about chess programming. There are three basic elements in a chess program: move generating, search and an evaluation function. Amundsen plays on FICS. Language: Swedish.
Schackspelande datorer – hur fungerar de? (Chess computers – how do they function?) - Joakim Östlund and Patrik Lindegrén wrote this thesis in October 2004. Language: Swedish.
Sjakk og Data - Odd Gunnar Malin from North Norway has constructed a game database, Norbase, developed several chess related programs and also constructed PolarChess, a WinBoard-compatible engine. Languages: Norwegian and English.
The Yellow Bishop Computer Chess Center with 79 articles on the subject.
Many of the links to the different chess programs also give information about the programmers.
Colin Frayn´s Home Page - Colin Frayn has constructed the chess engine Beowulf. The home page also contains stuff about programming theory.
Robert Hyatt, associate professor at University of Alabama, Crafty´s creator, continues to develop this chess engine. Available via his e-mail address for questions about chess programming 24 hours daily.
Steffen Jacob has developed the chess program Hossa.
Bill Jordan, has written several chess related programs, amongst others Chess Teacher 1.2, Chess Rater and Chess Analyzer.
Peter McKenzie , who has created the chess engine LambChop, has also constructed PGNres, an utility for analysing PGN files.
Bruce Moreland has constructed Ferret and Gerbil. Ferret, a strong program, uses to take part in tournaments against commercial programs, but the program may neither be bought or downloaded. Gerbil is a chess engine.
Ed Schröder, who constructed the first version of Rebel in 1980, tells the story about Rebel and chess programming in general.
John Stanback started to program Zarkov 1989.
Alain Zanchetta has written several programs: a PGN-reader, an e-mail chess program for Smartphone and an Elo-calculator. Besides he collects electronic chess boards. Language: French.
Franck Zibi develops the chess program Zchess, last updated 29/12 2000. It took the second place in a computer chess tournament in France. Broken link.
About this particular Macintosh (ATPM) contains some reviews about the best chess programs running under Macintosh.
Valentin Abillo has created a page with chess problems for chess programs. Language: English.
Ajedrez y Computadoras is a sort of marc of respect to the ”machines”, that is to say electronic chess boards, which have given the webmaster many pleasant periods of amusement. The page also contains history around the standalone chess computers, images and product information.
Chess Advance by Jorge E Caballero is about chess programming in general and chess engines in particular. The website also contains a section with various programs, developed by Mexican programmers. Language: Spanish.
ChessComputers.org - Ismenio Sousa has created this site with the purpose of sharing information about chess computers and collecting them.
Chessgraphics by Wilhelm with graphic files, especially GUI-sets and logos, for chess programs.
Chess Pages - Free chess is neither a chess review magazine nor a personal web page. This site is addressed to chess players that decided to find out what computers nowadays can offer them in improving their chess playing, as well as being able to view, store and analyse chess games. All suggested software here is free to use and unlimited.
Chess Town with links to a number of chess programs, commercial as well as amateur, and to databases.
Computer History Museum is opening a new physical and online exhibition on computer chess in Mountain View, California in September this year. It follows a chronological plan from Turing and Shannon to the development of PC chess software and the drama of Deep Blue.
CXR Chess Toolbar - Chess Express Ratings has developed a special toolbar for chess players. See presentation!
Walter Eigenmann gives his attention to the development of computer chess during the latest years. He has placed the 200 best chess programs and 50 best programmers in order of precedence, basing his opinion on 120000 computer chess games. Language: German.
Free Chess Programs - Zarkon Fischer presents a selection of chess software, which can be downloaded free from Internet.
Het Overtom Schaakcomputer-Museum is a museum for electronical chess boards – some very spectacular – from the most important manufacturers. The collection is very comprehensive. Languages: Dutch and English.
How to use the best free chess programs - article about WinBoard, Crafty and different clients published of the homepage of the Belgian club, le Cercle d'Echecs de Liège. Language: French.
Garry Gasparov has written a very interesting and readable essay, "The Chessmaster and the Chess Computer" in The New York Review of Books.
La capacidad combinativa de los programas de ajedrez - Sandro Sirani, a veteran chess player from Venezuela, has tested a number of commercial chess programs in a number of positions and he is not too impressed. Language: Spanish.
Lin4Chess (or how the penguins play chess) aims at investigating how the GNU/Linux environment works regarding chess software and chess play on the Internet. Language: French.
Logiciel de Jeu d´Echecs - Cercle d'Echecs Moissac-Castelsarrasin has published a series of review articles about chess software, especially chess engines. Language: French.
MacChess is dedicated to chess on Mac and lists all kinds of programs running on Mac.
Museo español de computadoras de ajedrez - a well-supplied museum for electronic chess boards.
Museum of Chess Programs - here you may find some old chess programs, which you shall not underestimate at all. What do you think about Fritz 1, Chess Genius 1 and Chessmaster 2000?
PerroMaster - a site from Paraguay, which above all lists free chess software, but also some other resources. Language: Spanish.
Schachcomputer.info - Wiki is an encyclopaedia, which has been created by the community Schachcomputer.info and which is continuously updated by this community and all other chess computer fans. The encyclopaedia contains comprehensive information about chess computers, programs, programmers and manufacturers. Language chiefly German, but to some extent also English and French.
Schachprogramme unter Linux lists - and goes through – a number of chess programs and chess engines, which work under Linux. Language: German.
Software for Macintosh - if you are looking for chess software for your Macintosh, you might find it here among 67 programs in the list of dmoz.
The ChessBrain Network is a project is devoted to exploring distributed computing using the game of chess. So far their current record total of machines used to play a single game of chess is 673.
Triad Chess is an application for smartphones and tablet computers for three player chess. See substantial product information. Languages: English and French.
WebAjedrezElectronico considers their mission to offer information about the world of chess computers and programs and to function as a meeting place for all who love these infatiguable playing mates. Language: Spanish.
