Free Chess Program?

[fustercluck]

Any good free chess program out there? Like with different difficulty levels and such? I found an old chess game on my computer but there's only one difficulty and it's way too tough. Something not too cheesy would be nice.

 

[Nohr]

I don't play chess so I don't know if these are any good, but here's some you could try.

Arasan
HellChess
Natwarlal

 

[randumb]

I used to play competitive chess. I recommend Crafty + WinBoard.

 

[theAnimal]

Arena

Chess Engines & Ratings

 

[fustercluck]

Hm, so there are different programs and different "engines" which can be mixed and matched? There seems to be files scattered everywhere and i'm not sure what's what. Can someone just link me to the latest english version of crafty and winboard? I big bonus would be free online play as well.

 

[Sureshot324]

Playing chess against a computer = lame. It's just no fun if you know the computer has analyzed everything that could possibly happen over the next 3-4 moves. Play online.

 

[fustercluck]

It is a little lame i suppose, but that's why they have different difficulty settings, so you're not playing against a full powered analyzing computer. I would prefer to play online, if it were free. I don't like Yahoo chess.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Battle Chess was the best chess game ever. It was free (i think) but it was DOS based.

 

[bersl2]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Battle Chess was the best chess game ever. It was free (i think) but it was DOS based.

I still have the voice of the king from the tutorial in my head. Entertainment, that thing was.

 

[fustercluck]

All this chess engine gui crap is confusing. Isn't there just a simple free chess program out there?

 

[JBT]

Pretty sure www.zone.com has free online chess.

 

[fustercluck]

Found a good place, here it is: http://www.chessanytime.com

 

[torpid]

I believe there is a free internet chess server to play online, freechess.org or something like that. I don't know what you dislike about yahoo, though, so it's hard to say if that would be any better.

 

[Lord Zado]

 

[theAnimal]

Originally posted by: torpid
I believe there is a free internet chess server to play online, freechess.org or something like that. I don't know what you dislike about yahoo, though, so it's hard to say if that would be any better.

Free Internet Chess Server

 

[theAnimal]

Originally posted by: jacktackle
All this chess engine gui crap is confusing. Isn't there just a simple free chess program out there?

You can download Arena with some included engines.

 

[episodic]

Yahoo chess is pretty good in yahoo games

 

[eLiu]

Originally posted by: Sureshot324
Playing chess against a computer = lame. It's just no fun if you know the computer has analyzed everything that could possibly happen over the next 3-4 moves. Play online.

lol...actually I find the biggest downside to the computer is that it doesn't really take risks. Human players do some edgy sh1t sometimes...the computer can be kind of predictable. On higher difficulty settings it usually makes the textbook "best" move.

It's a good learning tool if you ask me. Learn to play the computer and then see what humans do differently.

 

[Sureshot324]

What I hate most about playing the computer is if I make a plan for the next 4-5 moves, I know the computer has already considered that possibility. It feels futile trying to come up with a plan or to 'trick' the computer. If you set it to a low difficulty, it will just deliberatly make a mistake once in a while, so all you can do is wait for it to make a mistake.

 

[Childs]

I'm surprised there isn't a good free one. Macs have a 3D chess game that comes with the OS.

 

[ZimZum]

Originally posted by: Sureshot324
Playing chess against a computer = lame. It's just no fun if you know the computer has analyzed everything that could possibly happen over the next 3-4 moves. Play online.

More often than not if you play online chess against someone with a decent rating you're still playing against a computer. The only way to guard against opponents using chess programs to cheat is by playing speed games, but that gets old after a while.