Author: Richard A. Fowell (fowell@netcom.com)
Date: 10:29:49 08/29/99
Go up one level in this thread
On August 28, 1999 at 21:57:05, Pete Galati wrote:
>Please recommend links for Mac Chess programs for my new web page at:
>http://members.xoom.com/avochess/avochess.htm (There isn't all that much there
>yet, a few basic links, etc.) I have no idea what's really good on a Mac, most
>of us ignore Mac users though so I'd like to provide a few good links for them.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Pete
Jeroen has already posted most of the best links, but I'll comment on them.
(Since I created all of them <grin>)
If you only post one link, the one to pick is this one - it links to
every other link Jeroen mentioned, and tries to link to every Mac chess
page on the Web (let me know of any I missed). It's weakness is that there
isn't much information on what's good vs. what is mediocre. If you want
such a site list, see #2.
1. The Encyclopaedic Site
The Macintosh Chess Software Index Site:
http://directory.mozilla.org/Games/Board_Games/Chess/Software/Macintosh/
has as its goal to link to all Macintosh chess software sites on the Net,
so if you only put in one link, that is the one to use.
It contains 63 sites, categorized into 8 groups:
- Chess Playing programs (the default category)
- Online Chess {Jeroen mentioned)
- Chess tutorial software
- Chess Databases
- Chess Publishing
- Stores selling commercial Mac chess software
- Software for orgainizing events
- Links pages (pages with a large number of Macintosh chess software links)
- the Downloadable Mac Chess Software page (Jeroen mentioned)
http://www.gambitsoft.com/mac.htm
- The Mac Game Database - Chess (currently 9 packages, most with:
1 paragraph description, home page link, download link, 2 screen shots.
I intend to add more software to this page, so it will grow.
http://www.gamedb.com/subcategory_listing.php3?id=00047
- Schach und Der Mac (a nice page in German - not mine)
http://www.uni-kassel.de/~mgude/schach/computerschach.html
#2 Recommended Sites:
If, besides the index site, you want to give people some recommendations
in the various categories, here are mine:
Chess Playing Programs:
Commercial:
HIARCS 7.0: Online review, with links
http://www.gambitsoft.com/chess/games/hiar6me.htm
Chessmaster 4000 Mac (home page)
http://www.chessmaster.com/cm4000.htm
Freeware:
Sigma Chess 4.02 Lite (home page)
http://users.cybercity.dk/~bst10651/
MacChess 5.01 PPC/2.51 68K (home page)
(note - I need to update the text, since the latest version it
mentions is 4.0, but the download page here has 5.01 and previous)
http://members.aol.com/macchess/
Online Chess
For Servers:
Fixation 2.0b1 for FICS and ICC (home page)
http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/cknelsen/fixation/fixation.html
For Peer-Peer
ChessWorks (home page)
http://www.nearside.com/EkimSW/ChessWorks/
Database
ExaChess 2.0 (Home Page)
http://www.exachess.com/
(note: both Bookup and Chessbase 1.1 are avaialable for the Mac, and
their links are in my index above. However, if I only get to mention
one, I pick ExaChess, for several reasons:
- since I haven't tried all three, and the one reviewer who did rated
ExaChess 1.0 over the other two, I figure ExaChess gets top rank
- It is the only one with a free demo version, so people can find out
what they are getting before spending their money
- it seems to be the only one under active development, so it seems
to be the only one with "legs".
- It has several features, such as 300Mb endgame tablebases, plug-in
chess engines (Crafty, ZZZZZZ, GNUChess, MacChess 4.0e, and more in
development) that neither of the others do.
I'm certain that Chessbase, Bookup, and SmartChess all have unique
features missing in ExaChess that will make them the better choice
for some (I own SmartChess and ChessBase, but haven't gotten around
to really exercising ChessBase), but again, I think ExaChess is the
best overall choice.
Tutorial:
- For absolute beginners:
Chess Mates (now available only in a bundle with something else)
http://www.brainstormfun.com/chess/index.html
- For intermediate players
Maurice Ashley teaches Chess (Mac/Win version)
http://www.icdchess.com/software/training/matc/index.html
- For advanced players
Chess Mentor Mac
http://www.chess.com/
Chess Publishing
- Sigma Chess (for one game at a time) or ExaChess (for fancy stuff)
are the top choices, here.
Stores selling Mac Chess Software
- http://dmoz.org/Games/Board_Games/Chess/Software/Macintosh/Stores/
Richard A. Fowell (fowell@netcom.com)
http://directory.mozilla.org/Games/Board_Games/Chess/Software/Macintosh/
This page took 0 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.