Chess Software (& Hardware) Reviews
ChessReviews.com – Bob Pawlak’s site of reviews and advice on chess software. Also see related mailing list.
Chris Kantack’s Handheld Chess Info – Reviews & info on handheld chess computers & software (like for the Palm).
Seagaard Chess Reviews – Software & book reviews. Available in English & Danish.
Chess Engines – Commercial
Note: Links for Amateur/Freeware engines are on the Computer Chess page.
Windows
Chessmaster – Chessmaster is probably the most popular of the commercial programs, with lots of features and reasonably priced.
Chess Partner – Dutch program with database. Free demo.
Double Chess – A bughouse-style game. Free demo.
Fritz/Chessbase Engines – The Chessbase “family” of programs: Fritz, Junior, Nimzo, and Hiarcs. Along with Rebel and Shredder, these are the most popular for serious players and computer chess enthusiasts. Chessbase also sells a number of “amateur” engines that can be used in the Fritz or Chessbase interface.
Millennium Chess System – Includes the Chess Genius and Shredder chess engines.
PalmChess – Chess for your Windows CE-based pocket computer.
PocketChess – Another Windows-CE chess program. Shareware.
Rebel – Dutch program specializes in taking on human GM’s. Download Rebel Decade, the freeware version.
Macintosh (the ultimate list of chess software for the Mac is here)
Chessmaster – The most popular PC chess program is also the most popular Mac chess program.
Hiarcs – The strongest engine for the Mac.
HyperNetwork Chess – Shareware engine/database for the Mac.
MacChess – This is freeware, not a commercial program, but it is top-notch and deserves a look.
Sigma Chess – Another strong free program for the Mac in this increasingly inaccurately named catagory.
Palm / Handheld
Chess Genius – Richard Lang’s program now for your Palm organizer.
Chess Tiger – The strongest program available for the Palm.
Double Chess – Play regular or “Double” (Bughouse-style) chess on your Palm.
PalmChess – Chess for your Palm Pilot.
PocketGrandmaster – Strong shareware program for the PocketPC.
Chess Database Software
Windows
Shareware / Freeware
Bookup Lite – Free version of the Bookup program. Most of the editing features disabled, but you can view books-on-disk, import PGN, etc.
CDB – The author is no longer developing this excellent freeware database / analysis tool, but you can download it directly from here.
Chessbase Light – Free version of Chessbase 6.0. Has an 8000 game limit on databases, and some functions are restricted, but still pretty useful. Comes with an older version of Fritz as an analysis engine. (Note: This program is becoming less and less representative of the full version of Chessbase, now on version 8.0.)
Chess Dragon – Shareware database program looks good. Has position search and chess engine analysis capabilities, among other features.
Chess Tree – Graphically displays move trees for libraries of games. Useful for studying openings.
ChessPad – Free database program. Good-looking with some good features.
PGN Mentor – Not quite a database program, but a PGN reader/editor with decent search features.
Scid – Freeware database program with lots of nice features and getting better all the time. Can be used with Crafty. Developed mainly for Unix systems, but can now be used on Windows if you install the TCL/TK language.
Commercial
Bookup– Probably the best product for learning openings; less useful for pure database functions.
Chess Academy – An all-in-one chess program, featuring excellent tutorials, a decent database module with very fast searching (huge game collection included), and chess engine. Reasonably priced.
Chess Assistant – The main competition to ChessBase, this is a full-featured database with plenty of supporters. Downloadable demo. Available in English and German.
ChessBase – Some people love it and some people hate it, but this database program has become the industry standard. A gazillion features.
ClubMate – Quite powerful, and much less expensive the most of the others. There is supposed to be a new version in the works, but is has been quite a long time. The interface needs a face lift. Limited freeware version and demo.
Knut Neven’s Research Database – Knut has created a huge, high-quality game collection in Chessbase format for sale on CD with regular updates.
SuperChess/Bookbuilder – Program from The Netherlands acts as an opening database and chess engine.
Macintosh (also see this list of links)
Bookup – There is a version of Bookup for the Mac, but no free version to download.
ExaChess – Powerful and inexpensive database. Offers freeware version.
DOS
TascBase – Combination database and chessplaying program. Downloadable demo. Available in English, German, and Dutch.
Unix / Linux
Scid – Freeware database program with lots of nice features and getting better all the time.
Palm / Handheld
ChessPad – Palm OS program for recording and annotating games on the go.
Foobase – Project in development to make a database program for PDA devices.
Chess Software – Miscellaneous
Note: Graphical interfaces for chess servers are only listed on the Online Chess page, unless they have additional off-line features. Software for e-mail chess is on the Correspondence page.
Diagram Utilities & Chess Fonts
Alpine Fonts – Fonts for chess and other games.
Chess Captor – Shareware program for creating chess diagrams.
Chess Diagrams & Fonts – Chess fonts and diagram utilities.
Chess Helper – Simple program for making diagrams (direct download).
Chess Maker – Shareware diagram utility.
EPD2Diag – Popular diagram utility from the Rebel people, with lots of features. There is a simplified online version in javascript here if you just need a quick diagram (must have a chess font installed).
JDiag – Java applet for creating chess diagrams to be used in documents.
Word Macros & Fonts – From the Chess Variant pages, has links to lots of chess fonts and Word macros, as well as diagramming utilities.
PGN / Chessfile — Viewers/Editors
BugAssistant – BPGN viewer for examining bughouse databases.
CEBoard – PGN viewer/editor for Pocket PC’s with the CE operating system.
ChessBase Utilities – A dozen or so programs from Rob Weir to help you manage your ChessBase files.
Chessbd / Slics – Great PGN viewer/editor, with extremely flexible features, as well as being the best of the online interfaces.
ChessN – Shareware PGN viewer/editor.
PGN-Extract – Freeware DOS program can be a pain to use because it is — well, a DOS program, but it is quite powerful for “extracting” what you want out of PGN files (finding games by tag, by position, removing duplicates, etc.)
PGN Mentor – PGN reader/editor with advanced search features.
PGNres – Utility to analyze PGN files. Gives info such as wins, losses, draws for each color, builds crosstables, etc.
PGN Utilities – Various programs to process various tasks on various PGN files.
PGN Web Editor – Edit PGN files in your browser with this Java program.
PGN World Viewer – Very basic PGN viewer.
U4 Chess Utilities – A number of nifty utilities to keep your PGN files organized, standardized, and duplicate-free.
WinBoard / XBoard – Tim Mann’s great freeware program works as a PGN viewer/editor, a graphical interface to chess engines like Crafty, and as an online interface for the chess servers. A must! Check out Ed Collins’ Winboard Tribute Page. [Windows, UNIX]
Problem Composing / Solving
CHEST – Source code (in ANSI C) for a problem solving program.
MateMaster – Shareware software for solving chess problems.
Mater – Will find any mate that’s there, eventually.
Problemiste – Chess problem software.
Retractor – Software for creating Retrograde Analysis chess problems.
Training / Instructional / Puzzle Software
Chess Academy – An all-in-one chess program, featuring excellent tutorials, a decent database module with very fast searching (huge game collection included), and chess engine. Reasonably priced.
Chess Assistant – The makers of the CA database have a whole line of high quality chess training/improvement programs, and add new titles frequently.
ChessBrain Edit – Takes your games, and annotates them by comparing them with master games & pre-calculated position evaluations stored on a CD.
Chess Mentor – A well-regarded software chess tutor. Download demo.
Chess Puzzles Series – Series of programs to improve your ability. For kids & adults. Many demos to download.
Chess Technologies – Training programs based on the “flashcard” technique. One program allows you to import positions of your choice for study.
Kortex Chess – A line of chess training / tutorial software.
Sir Arthur – A couple of games based on the movement of the Knight.
Zillions Of Games – Software package allowing you to create almost any board game and be playing against an AI (or human) opponent immediately. Comes with hundreds of games (including many chess variants) built in, and more can be downloaded from their web site as people create them.
Tournament / Chess Club Management
Chess Event – Chess tournament management software for the Mac.
MiniMonrad – Freeware Swiss pairing program using the Monrad system.
School Chess Software Series – Has a line of software for organizing your chess club, plus tutorial and training programs.
Swis-Sys – Popular tournament pairing software.
Swiss Perfect – More tournament pairing software.
Vega – Cross-platform (DOS, Windows, & Linux) Swiss system pairing software. Uses the Dubov variant.
Windows TD – Tournament pairing software.
Web Page Display of Games (HTML & Java Viewers)
Chess Tutor – Java applet allowing interactive study of games in your browser.
Chess Viewer – Free utility from ICC allows PGN games to be displayed interactively on your web page.
Czech – Shareware HTML generator to illustrate chess games on web pages.
J!Chess Viewer – Java viewer for web.
LT-PGN-Viewer – Javascript viewer for viewing PGN in your browser. A bit clumsy because you have to cut-and-paste games into it by hand to view them.
Misty Beach – Older java viewer is functional, but lacks aesthetic appeal.
Montreux – One of the better java viewers for the web. Very customizable.
MyChess Viewer – Very nice, feature-rich java pgn viewer.
PalView – Nifty little program converts PGN to HTML for web publishing. Lots of cool options.
PGN to JS – Takes PGN files and converts them into interactive Javascript webpages. (Similar to PalView)
PGN World Viewer – Can take a PGN file and turn it into HTML.
Miscellaneous Miscellaneous
Chess Ballet – Dancing chess pieces screen saver.
Chessbase Conversion – Convert from Chessbase format to PGN or vice-versa.
Chess Geek Screen Saver – Display your choice of games as a screensaver. Also works as a PGN viewer.
Chess Graphics – New board textures/colors to use with your favorite chess software, including the Chessbase/Fritz line and ChessWorks for the Mac.
Chess Saver – Another screensaver — you pick the games.
ELO Calc – Computes your rating.
Fritz Book conversion – Convert your Fritz books to Genius or Rebel format files.
Net Blitz – Allows 2 to 4 people to play over a TCP/IP network (standard or bughouse).
NetChess – Provides an interface to play over a network or on a single computer. Legal move checking, clock, etc.
Winboard Tourney Manager – Utility for running tournaments between Winboard chess engines.