Chess game that shows attack/defense path squares?

I was wondering if there's a chess game that shows where squares are highlighted depending on if it's attackable or defended (i.e. movement paths would be green and defended squares are red).

If not, I was hoping there is an open source freeware chess game that would let a person add these highlighted squares.

I think it'd be an awesome idea for beginners like myself. It might help stop blunders or just help general play as well.

Fritz has a "threatened squares" display option that (quote)...

Displays the status of each piece on the board.

    A red square means that the piece is under attack and not sufficiently defended, or that it is being attacked by a piece of lesser value. This is usually a pretty serious danger signal and means you must take active measures to avoid losing a piece.

    Yellow means that the piece is under attack, but it is just sufficiently defended. You must be careful about removing any defending piece.

    Green means the piece has enemy contact but is well defended. Usually it is okay to remove a defending piece.

Help with your moves

With the “threatened squares” function switched on, the program will, in addition, help you with the move you are about to make. When you click a piece, all squares to which it can legally move are displayed in the corresponding colour codes:

    red for danger squares on which you will almost certainly lose material,

    yellow for contested squares, and

    green for safe ones.

Also (quoting again from Fritz 12 help, omitting diagrams)...

Dynamic Hints

When moves are made the balance of power on the board can be shown with arrows. This can be selected by the menu Training -> Dynamic Hints.

Possibilites for attack and defence manoeuvers are shown for every square when you move the mouse cursor over it. This "mouseover”effect gives assistance in understanding the balance of power on the board.

This information is shown in two colours. Green arrows are defensive manoeuvers, red arrows are attacks.

There are further differences shown by the type of line. A solid line shows a direct attack or defence. Dotted lines show a possible attack or defence that depends on the next move made.

 If a red line is drawn thicker it is a move that will win material.

In this example the player has moved his rook from a1 (marked with a circle) to c1, and he has left his mouse cursor hovering over c1. The green arrows from the bishop and the king show that the rook on c1 is sufficiently defended.

The dotted line from c1 to c4 shows that White has the possibility of capturing the black rook if he does not make a move to avoid it.

The thick red arrow from c4 to a4 shows that the pawn can be captured immediately, winning material for Black.

Here is another example with a "full board”:

White has moved his bishop from d3 to e4 without releasing the left mouse button. d3 is marked by a circle, e4 is marked by a coloured background.

The green arrows show that the knight on d2 and the queen on e2 are defending the bishop..

The dotted red line between b7 and e4 show capture possibilities. Since both bishops have a chance to capture each other the line has two arrow heads.

There is also a dotted red line from e4 to h7, showing that the bishop has the chance to capture the pawn in the next move.

There are thick red arrows from d7 and g4 to e5. This shows that after the white bishop has been dropped on e4 (by releasing the mouse button) either one of the knights can capture the pawn.

This means that the dynamic tips can be an effective help during a move by showing what consequences there will be on the board.

Fritz also has ...

Dynamic Hints                   Possibilites for attack and defence manoeuvers are shown for every square when you move the mouse cursor over it

Opening Hints                   If this option is selected, the program uses green arrows to show the most important opening moves

Visualize Search             It uses graphics to display possible plans for both sides on the Board

Measurements                   The "hotness" display shows how complicated and tactically "hot" the position is.

Hope that helps! 

Chessmaster does that if I recall correctly. I can't see it being very helpful though, as there's a danger of relying too much on the program and not improving your own vision

Those programs seem perfect!

I'm not intending on relying on them. I just seem to be oblivious to attacks and defending at times (many blunders).

The free Arena can display attacked squares (red, yellow, and green). I don't think it can display the move path or all legal moves though.

Following up 3 years later with a question of my own...

Do any of the free programs now offer anything like what Fritz does in the way of "Position tutor", "Dynamic hints" or "Threatened squares"?

Still can't find any "threatened squares" display option. I promise I would only use it to train...lol.

ChessX seems to have some of these functions: shows attacked squares, underdefended pieces, etc

Where's the research about the effect of hints on your gameplay without them? ... it might even make it easier, or help with training. Who enjoys missing a threatened piece, and then having to make up? Nobody. Sure, hints could risk becoming a slippery slope... but in real life people use technology to overcome their own limitations all the time, only a bunch of sadists would deny that to each other... I play chess not to torture myself, but to challenge myself while having a level of fun at the same time. Scanning the board for 20 seconds to check which pieces are threatened during every move is tedious and no fun, and rarely affects my plan of attack.

Not sure you'll get an answer to your question mate - the guy made that statement 10 years ago.

fritz sounds awesome, how do i get it? i cant seem to find a "fritz download"