Your Chess Software?

Rybka

Chessmaster Challenge

Crafty

GNUChess

Chess Mentor 

I have the following:

Chessmaster 10

Rybka

Deep Fritz 10

Chessbase 9

I feel that Chessmaster 10's Chess Academy by IM Waitzkin is an exceptional learing tool for amateurs (of which I am one for sure).  Also, my 6 year old daughter uses it often with it's multitude of chess personalities to present a good challenge for her.  It's been the best software investment for me at less than $20 US.  Only problem is that the chess engine consumes a lot of CPU resources, as in the CPU utlization of your PC will remain at 100% when Chessmaster is running.  So...word to the wise, don't leave it on overnight or plan to use your PC for any other operations while it is running.

Chessbase is excellent for cataloging games, analysis and training for sure but expensive.

Rybka is of course simply a chess engine/plugin for other applications.  From everything I've read online it's currently the strongest engine and not all that expensive.

Deep Fritz 10 - honestly I've hardly used it... 

I have chessmaster 9000 and I really like it. I particularly like the "blunder alert"  However, on my laptop, it alwasy gets hung up before the game is completed. Which program would you recommend for a laptop that includes a feature such as the "blunder alert?"

unixfudotnet wrote:

What chess software do you use?

I use a Mac, so use Sigma Chess 6.1 with the HIARCS engine (the lite one that is

 free still at the moment yet will purchase a license for the pro one soon).

There are also some free UCI engines that will run on Mac in the Sigma interface. Fruit 2.3.1 is probably the best. Others include Toga II, Gambitfruit, Homer, Gaia and Glaurung.

I also use a Mac (9 years old and still going) with Sigma and HIARCS. I should probably upgrade the hardware if I want to do serious analysis (400Mhz is very slow) but it can still beat me regularly and only cost £35.

diskamyl wrote: unixfudotnet wrote:

What chess software do you use?

I use a Mac, so use Sigma Chess 6.1 with the HIARCS engine (the lite one that is

 free still at the moment yet will purchase a license for the pro one soon).

 Well don't get me wrong, but why would you order a significantly weaker engine when the stronger one is available with the same (or lower) price? 

If you've not heard of it, there's an engine called Rybka which has been dominating computer chess for years now. it's 3rd version is said to be out on july 15th, so don't waste your money and do the right thing ;)

Unfortunately Rybka is PC only software so unixfudotnet wouldn't be able to run it on his Mac. I also cannot run Rybka or Fritz or Chessmaster on my Mac. I don't miss them at all, Sigma is very goold value and the weakened lite version of HIARCS can beat me easily enough.

WinboardX (play and analyze) with various free engines - Rybka 1.0b, Toga, Glaurung, etc. I also use ChessDB as chess database. They are both free and great software.

I have also tryed all commercial GUI's and I think Shredder GUI is by far the best (simple, pretty, efficient and intuitive to use).

WinboardX:

http://www.chess.com/download/view/portable-winboardx--rybka-10b

ChessDB:
http://chessdb.sourceforge.net/

I have ChessMaster 11, Fritz 11, Deep Shredder 11, and Chess Genius Classic, I also have a bunch of engines I have downloaded.  Chess Mentor 3, CT Art 3.0, and Bookup 2000 pro.  And I still suck at chess :)

I have been thinking of getting MasterChess 6000 so I can use Bookup 2000 as a database which is the only kind of chess program I lack, not counting the crippled version that came with Fritz 11.  I have Rybka 2.3.2 A MP and Fritz 11 does very well against Rybka.  Fritz is a very strong engine, you do not need Rybka to improve there are many great engines nowadays.  With Rybka 3 due to be released anyday there is no question that Rybka is the strongest engine, but a lot of engines are hoovering around the 3000 elo mark, including Fritz, Shredder, Hiarcs, and the King. 

I've got Chessmaster...for the Xbox 360...

Free engines out there are within 100-200 points of Rybka. (See http://computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/4040/rating_list_all.html) It's kind of silly to dis a 3000 program just because the strongest one is 3100. Imagine if Seirawan or Short showed up at your doorstep and offered a free coaching session, and you turned them down because they aren't Anand.

With a chess program, I figure what matters is the fit between the features and how you use it. Right now, I use Sigma Chess with the Fruit engine to "annotate" my own games, so I can see where I made errors. I can set Sigma to annotate a whole game collection, go away and do other things, and return to look over the output. I'm sure some other programs can do the same. So my thinking is: find a program with a nice front end and whatever bells and whistles you like, and then pair it with a freely available engine that uses the Universal Chess Interface.

Rybka 3 should end up 3200-3250... the current official rating only reflects 32 games and private individuals have done more extensive testing. Rybka 2.2n2 is the strongest free engine out there, maybe 3100 rating or so and multi-processor capable.

I have Fritz 10 Chessbase 9 and Chessmaster 10th Edition.