Chess software comes in different forms. A chess playing program provides a graphical chessboard on which one can play a chess game against a computer. Such programs are available for personal computers,

video game consoles A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to a ...

smartphones A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

/ tablet computers or mainframes/ supercomputers. A

chess engine In computer chess, a chess engine is a computer program that analyzes chess or chess variant positions, and generates a move or list of moves that it regards as strongest. A chess engine is usually a back end with a command-line interface wit ...

generates moves, but is accessed via a

command-line interface A command-line interpreter or command-line processor uses a command-line interface (CLI) to receive commands from a user in the form of lines of text. This provides a means of setting parameters for the environment, invoking executables and pro ...

with no graphics. A dedicated chess computer has been purpose built solely to play chess. A

graphical user interface The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, ins ...

(GUI) allows one to import and load an engine, and play against it. A chess database allows one to import, edit, and analyze a large archive of past games.

Chess-playing programs for personal computers

Chess engines

This list contains only chess engines for which Wikipedia articles exist yet and therefore is very incomplete. It does not reflect or imply current or historic play strength as this characteristic in itself usually does not warrant an entry on Wikipedia.

Chess graphical user interfaces

Chess-playing programs for video game consoles

Chess apps for phones/tablets

Chess computers

The following are special-purpose hardware/software combinations that are inextricably connected:

Programs for reading and editing chess databases

Chess Assistant Chess Assistant is a commercial database program produced by Convekta, Ltd. The company started in Russia, but also has offices in England and the United States. The software is a management tool for organising chess information (databases of mil ...

Chess Informant Expert Chess Informant (Šahovski Informator) is a publishing company from Belgrade (Serbia, former Yugoslavia) that periodically (since 2012, four volumes per year) produces a book entitled ''Chess Informant'', as well as the ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Op ...

* ChessBase *

Shane's Chess Information Database Shane's Chess Information Database (Scid) is a free and open source UNIX, Windows, Linux, and Mac application for viewing and maintaining large databases of chess games. It has features comparable to popular commercial chess software. Scid is wri ...

Chess-playing programs for mainframes/supercomputers

* AlphaZero * Chess (Northwestern University) * CilkChess * Kaissa * Kotok-McCarthy * Mac Hack

Tiniest chess programs

1K ZX Chess ''1K ZX Chess'' is a 1982 chess program for the unexpanded Sinclair ZX81. Description ''1K ZX Chesss code takes up only 672 bytes in memory, but implements chess rules except for castling, promotion, and en passant, including a computer oppone ...

* Microchess * Toledo Nanochess

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chess software Video game lists by genre

Software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...

Lists of software * *