Good, FREE, downloadable chess programs?

breadmonkey

Any suggestions? I wouldnt mind getting back into playing a bit

hamster

Try Winboard it's pretty configurable and free. -> http://www.tim-mann.org/xboard.html

Winboard is front-end and engine can be based on anything you want. ie GNU Chess or even Crafty (big download)....

Also try out the various chess games under the spectrum and Amiga. A lot of nice ones there (eg try scanning World of Spectrum)

Carlimited

Chess is SUCH a beautiful game - love playing it. Can't beat the computer too often, but get a stalemate once in a while - nice.

Squaddy

Does anyone wana have a chess tournament online or something??

We can orgainse a league and post it up on this thread, we can use yahoo or any other site.

crosstownk

Do a google for Chessic. It's an online version. A bit basic but fun - and free.

fenris

Try
http://www.mayothi.com/nagaskaki.html

It is free and can be dumbed down easily by selecting a different personality in order to actually get to an endgame!

I like it because the dumbed down personalities make mistakes throughout the game instead of the usual give away a piece and a couple of pawns in the first few moves then resume at full strength to massacre you in less than 20 moves giving you the effect of getting "odds" from a strong player rather than playing a weaker player. For non free you cannot beat (literally) Fritz 9 for the feeling of playing a person at the lower levels. I think that it is how a program plays at lower levels that is the most important factor for most normal level people as even the most basic chess program will massacre a normal player simply due to sheer calculating power on a modern PC.

Prufrock

That's the best chess download ever. Thanks.