Chess tutor software for mac?

Hi all,

I'm looking to improve my game. I'm taking chess somewhat more seriously now than I have in the past and I'm looking to save money on a chess tutor and get a program instead. 

Are there any real options for someone in the 1200 range looking to make it to the 1800 range as far as Mac software goes? Everything seems to be Windows exclusive. I tried to get Chessmaster: Grandmaster edition running under Wine with no success. The Chess.com mentor is nice but a little more pricey than I'd like. 

I'd also particularly like to find something to learn openings with, as I feel that that's an area where I'm lacking. I've got Capablanca's Chess Fundamentals coming in the mail and I'm also open to reading suggestions if anyone has any. 

I've never used a MAC but I'm pretty sure you need to tell those in the know the make/model MAC and what OS you're using, I do know some Apple computers were able to run Windows and I also know that Linux has "window emulator" software that allows Windows software to run under Linux, so maybe MACs do as well?

Here's a link to help you do your own research here www.cln.org/searching_faqs.html

and here's one link to show you I practice what I preach http://www.chesscentral.com/chess_software_mac_apple_s/32.htm  ie I found this by using a search engine

There is 1001 elegant checkmates, it is free.

A few options:

ChessX (http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/posted-latest-version-of-chessx-database-program ): A very decent free database program. It is missing some functionality, but hopefully will have some of the missing features added in the future.

Shredder (http://www.shredderchess.com/mac.html): Personally, I'm not a fan of the multi-windowed interface, and some of the features are quite crippled compared to the Windows version, but it's a pretty decent engine to play against and not a bad choice. I also have the full mobile app on my iPod Touch. The app is quite good in terms of interface, playing strength (good enough for me, at any rate), etc. There is also a free version with some restrictions.

HIARCS Chess Explorer (http://www.hiarcs.com/mac-chess-explorer.htm): A new option that I'm not familiar with, but it seems pretty full-featured and would probably make a good choice for a database / analysis / play vs. the computer package. It looks pretty sharp, too, aside from the horrible icon set used for the toolbars.

Sigma Chess (http://www.sigmachess.com/): Unfortunately not compatible with the newer versions of OSX. This program had a nice interface, though it was missing some key features. You can still download some PGN databases from the Sigma Chess site, I believe.

ExaChess (www.exachess.com/): A bit of an ugly duckling, but from what I hear, a good database / analysis program. The free (Lite) version has some restrictions, particularly in database size, but ChessX should be able to take care of that.

As far as a 'mentor' program goes, I don't know if one exists. I have a copy of Chessmaster 10 and cannot get it to run on Parallels/XP on my iMac, which is a shame as the instructional components are quite good (though I'm not convinced of the program's playing style).

I post recent builds of ChessX to www.box.com/chessX. You can look at the official site  http://chessx.sourceforge.net as well. The Macintosh builds on www.box.com/chessx are going to be the most up to date. If you have any difficulties you can always go to the older official builds on http://chessx.sourceforge.net .  I will probably not post windows builds very often.

HIARCS Chess Explorer is also very good with more features and is very similar to chessX. If you are learning openings, their opening trees are excellent.  

I would very much recommend ChessX and buy some of Everyman Chess's great pgn ebooks on openings. Their move by move series is great. And their PGN ebooks work great with ChessX. 

http://www.everymanchess.com

I successfully run VirtualBox on my imac, and I have used Chess Tutor through it. i.e. the software version of the Step method.

@audiom: I was trying to avoid messing around with virtual machines, but it seems that there are no other options. Oh well! I'll take a look, thanks for the heads up. There wouldn't be any lightweight distributions of Windows out there for purposes like this, would there? 

@Biarien: I've seen chess databases/programs often suggested to Mac users in cases like this. What would the benefit of playing with a computer be over playing with a real person through this website? And what would the benefit of a chess database be? Would I get valuable feedback on my own games if I fed them in to a database? 

There are a lot of annotated games available online. When loaded into a chess database they provide a valuable educational tool. Also UCI engines can be installed into almost any decent chess software, and can be used to evaluate moves/positions. Also most chess databases can take your database of games and give you statistics indicating what openings you are not doing so well in.

Hi,

Can you confirm whether or not everymanchess ebooks work with Hiarcs?  Thanks!

The  everyman chessbooks in PGN form work with HIARCS and chessX