do you enjoy other chess type games if so which ones?

or strictly chess only, if so, why ?

I don't like other forms of chess, because it draws away from the version we already know and love. It's perfect the way it is. I'm not against chess variants or anything, but I'd prefer not to see them. It wouldn't be the first time a variant took over as the main game. As a matter of fact, chess itself went about this same change many many years ago, when what used to be called "Queen Chess" took over as the way we play chess today.

I used to play checkers but once I began chess, checkers were forgotten. I just can't play many games at once because I tend to stick to one at a time. Chess is my favorite now and it probably will be for a very long time.

I also play Atomic chess, chess 960, chicken chess, Suicide chess...etc, just to unwind from chess!

I play racist chess :P

I enjoy Knightmare chess as a fun diversion that adds an element chaos and of luck - essential for my daughters to play against me.  I also occassionally dabble in Go, but don't have the study time to take it seriously.

I personally tried to play Shōgi (将棋) lately, which is by the way extremely interesting (you can either play a move, or bring back a dead piece anywhere on the board each turn, and all pieces promote to a specific new piece)

More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shogi

Though I liked it, the skill set and knowledge required to be good wasn't worth it (I'm still struggling to get better at chess!), and... well, I have nobody to play with at this game. In short, I only play "pure" chess but if you're searching for variations, Shōgi is an official and well-known chess variation in Japan, so it's still worth learning it.

Otherwise, there was this XBox 360 Live game, Chessmaster I think, which offered interesting twists such as "when you CAN eat a piece, you MUST eat it". This brings interesting challenges, as you cannot refuse gambits or exchanges.

I stick to standard chess and chess rules simply because if I am to be better at it and really appreciate the depth of the game, I have to focus. And.... well, I like chess as it is, it's like my personal favorite, shepherd pie. I'll eat this as is, simple, no variation, just good old ground beef, sweet corn and mashed potatoes (okay, I admit, onions, paprika and sometimes mushrooms but I swear, that's it!)

I'm hungry now, damn.

If you're looking for a good site where you can play chess and all the variations, try SchemingMinds, it's not publicty for there they reccomend this site!

What I would really like is a free internet chess computer to play against which has cool animated battles instead of just "rook takes pawn".

exactly, basically chess itself is a variant. I was lucky enough to encounter various forms at a young age so nothing "set dominance" I always knew there were others 

atomic chess, chess 960 (sort of, not really.) suicide chess.

I started playing a couple of games a week of Seirawan chess, and I think it's a blast.  As variants go, it's pretty true to chess as we know it.  Same board, same pieces, but with two newcomers who fill in that big difference in muscle between the Rook and the Queen:

I've played more shogi than I have chess. it's too bad because outside Japan, I think it's hard to find players. In Japan it's way bigger than chess. To me shogi is faster pace, more variations and killer finishes. In chess the pieces are more powerful but in return I feel more confined, the game feels much more like a puzzle than shogi. So they are quite different. And I enjoy both very much, so I wanted to combine the two and that lead me designing my own boardgame.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t-iFh6GUOk

hawks rules! elephants drools...

Seirawan should of left out the elephants, they kind ruin the game in my opinion!

I play just about every kind of board games. Chess, checker, chinese chess, chinese checker, shogi, go, and some other weird stuffs.

I'm having trouble deciding between a manicure or a peticure.