Chess programs

Does anybody reccommend any great chess programs?

I got a chess program and I love it, but it is not as extensive as I would like it to be. My favorite part of it is the chess puzzles, which are very difficult but they help you to look ahead and consider the moves more carefully. It has improved my game tremendously, and sadly it only has about 200 or so chess puzzles, so I'm looking to buy a more extensive program. But this feature would be mainly what I will be looking for.

Another thing that would be helpful would be an opening book, because openings right now are something that I need to study.

 So if anyone could reccommend any chess programs for an intermediate player with these features, I will be greatful. By the way I'm not a huge fan of chessmaster.

These programs I uploaded recently here in chess.com download.

Arena Chess GUI a chess GUI, you need to download a chess engine, for you to able to play with computer. This is for free, and no limitation.

The chess engines list: 

http://www.tim-mann.org/engines.html 

or

ChessPeer a playing program chess with a LAN (network) connection, where you can play with your officemate or any of your friends in different computer. This has a built-in chess engine, but you can change your chess engines. This I consider almost perfect chess program and its for free. The link above about the list of chess engines is the place where you can download a chess engines you like.

A chess engine from the Philippines, with an ELO of 2600.

Twisted Logic Chess Engine

Are you asking for chess training software that includes tactical puzzles? If so, Convekta's "Chess Tactics for Beginners" is probably the most popular. But there's also an alternative that's good called "Personal Chess Trainer". You can't go wrong buying either program, and they both have demos.

"because openings right now are something that I need to study"

For a non-master, learning opening principles is a wonderful idea, but learning opening variations is usually less effective than studying tactics or endings. This webpage covers the basic opening principles:

http://www.exeterchessclub.org.uk/Openings/10openrules.html 

I also like Arena; it's fine for playing against the computer but it has no training to speak of.

Chessmaster is a fine way to go with a nice training system built in. You may be 

able to pick it up fairly cheap now. There's a new version coming out soon so you

 may get the 10th edition cheap.

Chess Mentor Deluxe. End of story. I've yet to see a better, or more thoroughly annotated chess learning software package. I also use Chessmaster 10 for learning opening lines. I'm beginning to use Chess Assistant 9, but the learning curve (as far as using the program is concerned) is much steeper than with Chessmaster 10.

As far as chess playing software is concerned, I tend to lean toward Chessmaster 10. I have Fritz 10 and Rybka 2.3.2 as well, but honestly I rarely use them at this stage of my chess education (other than for analysis).

You might want to hold off on Chessmaster 10 though, Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition is set to be released next month. And, as chess software goes, it's rather inexpensive ($38 U.S.) Considering that with Chessmaster you get everything but the kitchen sink in one program, it's well worth the cost... IMHO.

ZZBrandon wrote:Why aren't you a fan of chessmaster? Whats wrong with chessmaster?

I know you didn't ask me, but I hear many people think it's bloated. I would prefer to call it full-featured. Like I said it has some fine teaching elements. Also, its chess engine isn't the strongest when compared to the Chessbase family of engines and others.

"yes I can understand that but unless you are above 2000 elo than chessmaster should be an excellent all around tool at a great price!!!"

For players above USCF 1300 or so, there are better training tools for learning tactics, endgames, strategy, and openings... but they're sold as separate pieces of software. Below USCF 1300 I completely agree it's an excellent all-around tool at a magnificent price and well worth buying. Run, don't walk to the store!

"Also, its chess engine isn't the strongest when compared to the Chessbase family of engines and others."

Yup. On CRRL 40/40 the rankings are: Rybka (Convekta) #1, Rybka (free version) #4, Deep Shredder (Chessbase) #6, Fritz (Chessbase) #9, and Chessmaster (UbiSoft) #17. For post-game analysis, it's helpful to have the strongest engine you can get your hands on, and there are stronger free engines available.

Stovkfish