Best 5 free Chess Software

My list and reasons

# 1--BabasChess as my first choice best interface for the Free Internet Chess Server (FICS).

#2-- Arena to play chess engines and Free Internet Chess Server (FICS).

 #3--Dasher only to the pre program chess personallities (engines)

Those using SCID should take a look at SCIDvsPC, which is a fork of SCID that is more actively developed and improved in several areas.

It's not close yet, but there is a really promising project called scidb that is not related to the SCID projects (except being inspired by them).  It is gorgeous and supports SCID format databases *and chessbase format databses*

It is so far only previewed for linux, but a windows version is planned for the future.  Here is a video I did quickly to show what it looks like.  It was a bear to get installed, but I think some of that was my fault.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erLITi_nldQ

I don't know about Fritz 8 but Fritz 12/13 supports PGN and of course Chessbase formats.  I would be surprised if all version do not.  RTFM.

Scid vs Pc!  A great database and analysis tool for free.

I don't know why everyone loves Tarrasch so much ..

what do you think of Kvekta ?

http://kvetka.org/en/

now houdini 3 is best.

I use Kvetka. Cute little programm runs both under Windows and under Linux with Wine. Not sure if it is BEST chess software, but I am OK with it.

I recommend ChessPad 2 for someone who has never used a chess DB and would like to start using one (or trying one out for starters). It's free, it's user-friendly, and I used it for yrs before upgrading to ChessBase so I can recommend it based on personal experience.  http://www.wmlsoftware.com/chesspad.html 

I've also checked out Arena and would recommend it to anyone who wants to start using chess engines with a free, user-friendly interface. 

Here's some links for info and downloads for great free engines. BTW I've run the same engines in a 32 bit OS (XP) with a dual core CPU and in a 64 bit OS (W7) with a quadcore CPU, and they (32-bit engines only of course) work just fine in the older, "rinky dink" 32 bit OS even with a lousy 2 GB RAM, of course 4 GB is preferable

http://www.zfchess.com/engines.html

http://ssdf.bosjo.net/list.htm

hi Everyone i wanna know how to download free houdini engine nd how to install it in arena please guide me

If you start a new thread for your problem, you might stand a better chance of getting help. It's not nice to hijack threads.

I like chess king

DroidChess for Android.

@monomero & @KahZeeMin: I tried to install Kvekta following your recommendations but Norton didn't like kvetka.exe (threat: Suspicious.Cloud.9) and removed it. Pity because it seemed a very friendly and lightweight option. Any idea?

Well, I have never used Norton Antivirus, so just a guess.

You could try one of listed:

- command Norton to ignore this threat and install Kvetka anyway. After all, Google says Cloud.9 is not a signature, it is just heuristics and an be wrong easily

- report this case either to Symantek or to Kvetka.org to let them deal with false positive alerts

- check if Norton likes other (previous, for example) version of Kvetka

- give up with Kvetka and look for other variants

Definitely not suspicious:

https://www.virustotal.com/it/file/ca81c7ec3476234ac59b2e6325bf6a8f3e1dc8b30c13880f9130d321002f17a5/analysis/

Just find out where to instruct Norton to release it from quarantine.

Very nice...tread, i try one by one

I'm looking for simply the most powerful software there is, as in, Houdini 3.0 would beat Arena or Shredder but I can't find any really powerful chess engines for free. if anyone could message me the most powerful one you could find that didn't cost money would be really helpful.

Nice list.  Thanks for starting the post.

Though it is probably argued, I would say Houdini 1.5 might be the strongest free engine still. It is nearly as strong as the Houdini 2.0 standard edition. You have to buy the Houdini 2.0 pro edition for any drastic improvement. There is Critter 1.6, which is supposed to be about the same, and I here rumors of Rybka 4 but can't find it, found a Stockfish DD version, which I tried and wasn't impressed and lastly there is Stockfish 4, which may be the same DD version. I was told by an IM if you are going to use Rybka of Fritz, to get the 64 bit versions of them.

I still use the Houdini 1.5 x 64 bit edition.

I did find this and thought it was interesting :

I would check out this site(http://www.inwoba.de/)for a comprehensive review before settling on anything, due to your playing style, or intended use of the engine...

IPON - Complete list 2014.01.01:

     Name                       Elo    +    -   games score oppo.  draws

   1 Houdini 4                  3111    9    9  4650   80%  2865   26%
   2 Houdini 3 STD              3077    8    8  5850   78%  2855   29%
   3 Stockfish DD               3056    8    8  4500   76%  2863   37%
   4 Komodo TCECr               3046    9    9  4350   75%  2857   34%
   5 Komodo 6                   3040   10   10  3600   74%  2857   34%
   6 Komodo CCT                 3036    9    9  3750   74%  2851   34%
   7 Komodo 5.1                 3024   10   10  2850   74%  2840   34%
   8 Houdini 2.0 STD            3024    8    8  5850   78%  2791   26%
   9 Stockfish 4                3018    9    9  4050   71%  2858   39%
  10 Houdini 1.5a               3018   10    9  4000   79%  2775   26%
  11 Komodo 5                   2999    8    8  4650   72%  2830   35%
  12 Komodo 4                   2981    8    8  4850   75%  2780   30%
  13 Stockfish 3                2979    9    9  3450   67%  2856   43%
  14 Critter 1.4a               2977    6    6  9700   68%  2840   39%
  15 Gull 2.2                   2977    7    8  5250   63%  2877   42%
  16 Critter 1.6a               2974    9    9  3900   69%  2837   41%
  17 Komodo 3                   2972   11   11  2800   74%  2779   31%
  18 Deep Rybka 4               2961    8    8  4900   74%  2770   33%
  19 Houdini 1.03a              2959   11   10  3200   79%  2728   30%
  20 Critter 1.2                2959   10   10  3100   72%  2786   37%
  21 Stockfish 2.2.2 JA         2958    7    7  5850   72%  2789   36%
  22 Stockfish 2.3.1 JA         2958    9    9  3750   67%  2834   42%
  23 Komodo 2.03 DC             2958   11   11  2700   74%  2769   30%
  24 Deep Rybka 4.1             2957    6    6 11150   65%  2842   41%
  25 Gull 2.1                   2947    9    9  3150   63%  2852   42%
  26 Stockfish 2.1.1 JA         2947    9    9  3500   69%  2795   36%
  27 Critter 1.01               2930   10   10  2800   70%  2772   36%
  28 Stockfish 2.01 JA          2928   10   10  3100   72%  2755   35%
  29 Gull II                    2927    8    8  4200   60%  2855   44%
  30 Rybka 3 mp                 2910    9    9  4200   77%  2702   31%
  31 Stockfish 1.9.1 JA         2909   10   10  3000   71%  2749   36%
  32 Critter 0.90               2902    9    9  3400   68%  2762   36%
  33 Stockfish 1.7.1 JA         2894   10   10  2900   73%  2713   33%
  34 Deep Fritz 14              2893    8    8  4800   51%  2882   42%
  35 Chiron 2                   2883    8    8  4200   52%  2866   43%
  36 Hannibal 1.4b              2866    7    7  5100   48%  2883   43%
  37 Rybka 3 32b                2858   13   13  1700   70%  2708   35%
  38 Chiron 1.5                 2848    7    7  6000   45%  2882   41%
  39 Stockfish 1.6.x JA         2840   11   11  2600   69%  2699   37%
  40 Komodo 1.3 JA              2837    9    9  3300   59%  2769   37%
  41 Protector 1.5.0            2832    7    7  6450   42%  2890   42%
  42 Naum 4.2                   2830    5    5 14250   51%  2822   40%
  43 Chiron 1.1a                2830    8    8  5400   52%  2813   39%
  44 Hannibal 1.3               2828    8    8  4650   44%  2870   42%
  45 Critter 0.80               2825   10   10  2800   64%  2717   36%
  46 Deep Fritz 13 32b          2822    8    7  5400   44%  2865   39%
  47 Fritz 13 32b               2818    8    8  4300   54%  2789   40%
  48 HIARCS 14 WCSC 32b         2816    6    6  7800   42%  2879   38%
  49 Komodo 1.2 JA              2809    9    9  3700   59%  2743   40%
  50 Rybka 2.3.2a mp            2804    9    9  3500   62%  2717   40%
  51 Jonny 6.00                 2800    8    7  5400   39%  2886   37%
  52 Deep Shredder 12           2800    5    5 15200   48%  2816   38%
  53 Hannibal 1.2               2796    8    8  4650   45%  2833   39%
  54 Gull 1.2                   2793    7    7  7200   48%  2806   36%
  55 Critter 0.70               2793   12   12  1900   58%  2730   36%
  56 Gull 1.1                   2793    9    9  3100   54%  2762   38%
  57 Naum 4.1                   2790   11   11  2300   64%  2690   40%
  58 Deep Sjeng c't 2010 32b    2788    5    5 12250   43%  2841   38%
  59 Komodo 1.0 JA              2785   10   10  2900   61%  2708   42%
  60 Spike 1.4 32b              2781    5    6 11350   41%  2846   37%
  61 Deep Fritz 12 32b          2779    7    7  6300   52%  2765   38%
  62 Rybka 2.2n2 mp             2779   11   11  2100   62%  2688   40%
  63 Naum 4                     2778   10   10  2700   60%  2703   40%
  64 Gull 1.0a                  2770   11   11  2300   55%  2735   39%
  65 Rybka 1.2f                 2767   11   11  2400   66%  2650   36%
  66 Stockfish 1.5.1 JA         2765   12   12  1900   59%  2697   38%
  67 spark-1.0                  2760    6    6 10900   40%  2837   37%
  68 Protector 1.4.0            2759    7    6  7700   44%  2806   37%
  69 Hannibal 1.1               2750    8    8  4900   44%  2797   39%
  70 HIARCS 13.2 MP 32b         2746    7    7  6800   43%  2800   36%
  71 Fritz 12 32b               2746   12   12  2000   55%  2711   40%
  72 Deep Junior 13.3           2744    7    7  6900   33%  2879   31%
  73 Deep Junior 13             2744    9    9  3600   40%  2818   36%
  74 Booot 5.2.0                2741    8    8  4950   31%  2890   35%
  75 DJ Yokohama                2735   10   10  3000   35%  2854   33%
  76 Quazar 0.4                 2735    6    7  7800   34%  2862   34%
  77 HIARCS 13.1 MP 32b         2731    9    9  3600   48%  2745   37%
  78 Deep Fritz 11 32b          2729   14   14  1300   57%  2674   39%
  79 Deep Junior 12.5           2727    8    8  4850   40%  2802   33%
  80 Doch64 1.2 JA              2715   13   13  1600   51%  2706   41%
  81 Zappa Mexico II            2714    5    5 15300   40%  2792   35%
  82 Toga II 3.0 32b            2713    8    8  5400   28%  2890   33%
  83 Stockfish 1.4 JA           2713   13   13  1700   50%  2714   38%
  84 spark-0.4                  2713    9    9  3100   47%  2735   39%
  85 Shredder Bonn 32b          2711   11   11  2200   51%  2705   36%
  86 Critter 0.60               2698   11   11  2200   49%  2708   37%
  87 Protector 1.3.2 JA         2698    7    8  5300   45%  2739   38%
  88 MinkoChess 1.3             2693    8    8  5100   32%  2832   36%
  89 Deep Shredder 11           2693   10   10  2700   52%  2675   36%
  90 Doch64 09.980 JA           2687   13   13  1500   47%  2706   38%
  91 Naum 3.1                   2682   10   10  3000   50%  2676   39%
  92 Zappa Mexico I             2679   11   11  2200   56%  2640   41%
  93 Onno-1-1-1                 2679    8    8  4300   45%  2719   40%
  94 Hannibal 1.0a              2679    9    8  4200   38%  2770   33%
  95 Deep Onno 1-2-70           2678    6    7  7700   36%  2782   36%
  96 Deep Junior 12             2677    9    9  3600   38%  2773   30%
  97 Rybka 1.0 Beta             2677   11   11  2300   45%  2721   35%
  98 Spark-0.3 VC(a)            2673    9    9  3600   45%  2709   40%
  99 Onno-1-0-0                 2672   15   15  1200   50%  2675   41%
 100 Deep Sjeng WC2008          2668    7    7  5600   43%  2717   37%
 101 Toga II 1.4 beta5c BB      2665    6    6  8300   39%  2748   37%
 102 Strelka 2.0 B              2661    8    8  5500   32%  2798   33%
 103 Deep Junior 11.2           2660   10   10  2900   41%  2736   31%
 104 Hiarcs 12.1 MP 32b         2655    7    7  5600   43%  2705   38%
 105 Umko 1.2                   2655   10   10  3300   31%  2807   34%
 106 Shredder Classic 4 CT2012  2654   11   11  2550   27%  2834   32%
 107 Deep Sjeng 3.0             2653   14   14  1400   43%  2706   34%
 108 Tornado 4.88               2653   11   11  2400   33%  2783   33%
 109 Shredder Classic 4 32b     2643   12   12  1800   51%  2634   38%
 110 Critter 0.52b              2643   10   10  2600   42%  2701   39%
 111 Naum 2.2 32b               2635   14   14  1300   47%  2652   45%
 112 Deep Junior 11.1a          2632   10   10  2800   41%  2699   34%
 113 Umko 1.1                   2627    9    9  3900   29%  2790   33%
 114 Crafty 23.5                2627   11   11  2700   25%  2829   28%
 115 Nemo 1.0.1                 2625   11   11  2700   26%  2816   30%
 116 Rybka 1.0 Beta 32b         2625   16   16  1100   46%  2653   37%
 117 Glaurung 2.2 JA            2624   10   10  2600   40%  2699   38%
 118 Deep Junior 2010           2622   10   10  3100   39%  2706   31%
 119 HIARCS 11.2 32b            2618   12   12  1900   44%  2666   38%
 120 Fruit 05/11/03 32b         2617    8    8  4400   40%  2687   41%
 121 Loop 2007                  2611    7    7  7900   31%  2761   33%
 122 Toga II 1.2.1a             2605   13   13  1600   45%  2644   41%
 123 Jonny 4.00 32b             2605    8    8  5200   27%  2796   28%
 124 ListMP 11                  2602   10   10  2600   38%  2692   37%
 125 LoopMP 12 32b              2599   13   14  1500   42%  2655   38%
 126 Tornado 4.80               2597   11   11  2700   25%  2803   26%
 127 Deep Shredder 10           2593    8    8  4400   40%  2671   33%
 128 Twisted Logic 20100131x    2590    9    9  3500   33%  2727   30%
 129 Crafty 23.3 JA             2588    8    8  5200   25%  2796   27%
 130 Spike 1.2 Turin 32b        2570    7    7  7700   31%  2722   33%
 131 Deep Sjeng 2.7 32b         2546   14   14  1400   33%  2671   36%
 132 Crafty 23.1 JA             2534    9    9  3800   26%  2724   28%

 After reviewing the top 10 I realize now that the Stockfish DD version would only perform single pv analysis for some reason and wasn't available in 64 bits. I haven't tried Stockfish 4 which appears to available for download here at Chess.com for free and I do remember seein gsome Komodo versions for free, but I doubt those of the top 10 are free here. So, that pretty much means that Houdini 1.5 is still going to be one of the best 3 choices or may even be the best free engine still.