Can someone recommend a free chess program that I could download? I would like something that has different levels of difficulty (I haven't played in many years and my ego is fragile so I want to start easy) and something that is safe to download. I am uncertain as to what is safe and what is risky to download from the Net. Thanks.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), August 06, 2001

Answers

Lars,

I use Sigma Chess Lite 4.0 which is a Macintosh program. I've also got MacChess 2.5 EN 1996 sitting around, but don't use it because it is easier. The Macintosh version of GNU Chess is buggy, but it may be better on another platform. I don't know programs for Windows.

dandelion

-- dandelion (golden@pleurisy.plant), August 07, 2001.

Lars,
A site called shareware.com offers oodles of software that is either free or that can be run several times before you'd have to purchase a license (which is usually inexpensive). I haven't downloaded any chess programs from there, but I've downloaded other software which I liked enough to purchase their licenses. Search on "chess" and see what happens.

-- David L (bumpkin@dnet.net), August 07, 2001.

Schroeder BV, a Dutch company, produces probably the best line of PC chess programs in the world; their strongest programs have challenged some leading grandmasters. I have Rebel 9.0 on my PC, though I rarely have time to play any more; once upon a time, I could have had a draw against the damn thing, full strength, but I went for the win with a knight for two pawns sacrifice in a complicated endgame and lost by one move. (Subsequent computer analysis showed the sacrifice would have led to a draw with best play on my part.) Usually the Rebel 9.0 program, rated FIDE 2443 even on my very slow (75MHz) computer, cleaned my clock.

Schroeder offers a free, downloadable version of their most basic program (Rebel 1.0, I think) at their website: http://www.rebel.nl Or at least they used to--I haven't visited the site in a while. Be aware that even the basic Rebel program is very strong, but you can always adjust the time controls, etc., to make the program much weaker. You then have a program that you can steadily strengthen as you improve. Always try to play against a program level that's at least somewhat better than you are--that's how you learn, however damaging it may be to your ego in the short run! There's also a tremendous amount of interesting information on the website. If you buy one of the regular chess programs, you get some huge databases with it, plus free access to almost endless downloadable databases from the website. Schroeder has won many international awards for their PC chess software; do some browsing and you'll see why. But it's definitely for the "serious" player who wants to work to improve.

-- Don Florence (dflorence@zianet.com), August 08, 2001.