I have also included the latest version of the stockfish engine. You just need to unzip the files, place the chessx.app in your Applications folder and run it. Go into preferences open the engine tab and install the stockfish engine by browsing to it.
Free Open Source Macintosh Chess Software
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Thanks for the info. I have been looking for a simple database program to replace SCID for a while.
ChessX is currently being improved on a regular basis. The repository for the code is at: http://sourceforge.net/scm/?type=svn&group_id=163833
If you are willing to do the work of downloading the latest version of QT you can build the latest version yourself. ChessX will run on all three of the major desktop operating systems.
The downloads at the regular ChessX website http://chessx.sourceforge.net/?q=node/12 haven't been updated for a while so as a service for macintosh users I have been updating the most recent build at https://www.box.com/chessx
While ChessX doesn't have nearly the number of features as SCID it has a much better user interface IMO and seems to be very free of bugs. If you find a bug, please let me know.
I just built and posted a Windows version of chessX to www.box.com/chessx as well for those of us who are still afflicted with Microsoft Windows
How does it compare to XBoard, in terms of features and speed?
Chess X will allow you to open pgn databases with multiple games , even those containing multiple variations and comments. You can install extremely strong Macintosh UCI engines such as Stockfish,Critter, or Komodo. It has as good looking a 2D board as I have ever seen in a chess program. You can do database searches by tag, or position. It does not allow you to play against it or connect to online sites. Because it uses PGN files which are inherently slow I wouldn't recommend it for huge databases of much more than a hundred thousand games. But If you want an easy to use program to study annotated games such as you find in PGN ebooks, or to play over your own games it is perfect. It is completely free so try it and see if you like it.
James, thanks for maintaining this resource. I just downloaded ChessX from the ChessX site, and then decided to do a forum search here. Glad I did: the newer version on your site is great! I'm sure I'll have some questions as I explore it more in the days to come.
I'm not sure if you do any of the programming, but I'll throw out a few feature requests in case you do or know someone who does:
- The ability to copy and paste PGNs would be very nice.
- It is a bit unclear how one edits the player information on a game.
- Some documentation on how to best use the program would be great.
- The ability to have an engine analyze and annotate an entire game would be nice (I know some engines can only add annotations when the difference in the position evaluation is above a certain threshold, which is a nice feature).
- And of course, the ability to play against engines would be fun.
At any rate, thanks a bunch for maintaining this very nice program. I hope the owners of the ChessX website keep their files up to date as well so more people can discover this program.
Biarien wrote:
James, thanks for maintaining this resource. I just downloaded ChessX from the ChessX site, and then decided to do a forum search here. Glad I did: the newer version on your site is great! I'm sure I'll have some questions as I explore it more in the days to come.
I'm not sure if you do any of the programming, but I'll throw out a few feature requests in case you do or know someone who does:
- The ability to copy and paste PGNs would be very nice.
--- Yes it would be. There are a few of us adding features, and this is certainly one we would like to add. Unfortunately, my time is limited and I have other demands on my time. I am hoping when the regular web site is updated, (hopefully soon), it will attract more developers.
- It is a bit unclear how one edits the player information on a game.
---- Follow these steps as an example
File Menu:: New Database
Game Menu:: New Game
Add moves to game
Game Menu:: Save... alows you to edit the tags
- Some documentation on how to best use the program would be great.
---Yes it would.
- The ability to have an engine analyze and annotate an entire game would be nice (I know some engines can only add annotations when the difference in the position evaluation is above a certain threshold, which is a nice feature).
----Yes this has been requested before
- And of course, the ability to play against engines would be fun.
----Eventually we will get to this
At any rate, thanks a bunch for maintaining this very nice program. I hope the owners of the ChessX website keep their files up to date as well so more people can discover this program.
--- I think this will happen soon.
Recently a commercial version of chessX has been released called "Hiarcs Chess Explorer" which I believe has all the features you are asking for. It was developed by one of the original developers of chessX so it is extremely similar.
Of course chessX is free.
I thought I would post a link to the latest versions of ChessX a pretty high quality chess pgn database program, and stockfish. Both are free and open source. both are available for windows as well. But I am posting a link to the macintosh versions. Post a reply if you find these useful.
https://www.box.com/chessx