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Subject: Re: Strongest free chess program?

Author: Dann Corbit

Date: 10:03:04 11/10/05

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On November 10, 2005 at 10:30:06, Kenneth Nolan wrote:

>I would like to buy a strong chess engine. Unfortunately I have no means of
>purchasing anything over the Internet, at least for a couple of months.
>
>I would like a recommendation for a free chess engine I can use until I can buy
>a commercial one. The main feature I am looking for is sheer playing strength
>(over long time controls).
>
>I would greatly appreciate any help you could give me.

For contests, get Arena (if you have not done so already):
http://www.playwitharena.com/

For internet play, get Winboard (if you have not done so already):
http://www.tim-mann.org/chess.html

As far as engines, go, the more the merrier.  To find out how strong they are,
look here:
http://wbec-ridderkerk.nl/
and click on rating list.

Look here:
http://www.husvankempen.de/nunn/rangliste.html

And here:
http://www.geocities.com/lyapko/ratba30.htm

Here are the pro engines power ratings:
http://web.telia.com/~u85924109/ssdf/list.htm

Many strong professional engines are very inexpensive.

For a free chess database, both of these are very good:
http://scid.sourceforge.net/
http://jose-chess.sourceforge.net/

My recommendations for professional products are:
Database (must have) -- ChessAssistant
Engines (must have) -- Fruit, Shredder
Engines (nice to have) -- ChessMaster, Ktulu, Gandalf, Ruffian, ChessTiger[*],
DeepSjeng, Rebel/Prodeo

[*] Unfortunately, ChessTiger is not UCI or Winboard, so I can only really use
it in ChessAssistant.  I have other versions, but I don't end up using them.

Avoid:
Don't bother with MChess 7 -- it only works in its own special interface.
The ChessBase engines also work only under the ChessBase interfaces and so are a
pain in the behind to use in settings that I like.  (I have all of these engines
but play them only rarely).



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