If I buy just one piece of chess software...

... what should it be? When it comes to chess software, I feel it's like the whole Windows Vista fiasco all over again. Remember how there were like 12 different versions of Windows Vista and nobody knew which version to buy? Well, there are so many chess databases, chess tutors, chess engines, chess interfaces, etc., that I feel overwhelmed. What's the best general-purpose piece of chess software for me to get the most value for my money and the most distance as far as improving my chess?

It's not required, but bonus points if it runs on a Mac.

Thanks for your suggestions!

I would really recommend Fritz. It's got all the features. It doesn't try to draw you in with fancy graphics for the average consumer, but has a very clean and simple interface for a great chess learning experience. It's got everything that you'd want from a chess program, including a database of like 2 million games or something. It's amazing!

The thing about the different chess software is that they all have different pluses and/or minuses.  What I would most recommend is to try the demo versions of Shredder, the free Chessbase Lite and see if ChessOk has a demo version of Aquarium.  There is even one called Bobby Junior now but that is not as fully featured.

Check out the demo versions and see which one feels best to you.  Pick the one that you would most like to work with.  And that is going to be different for everyone.  Chessmaster is a good all around product but not great for analysis so one of the other ones will be necessary.

For Macintosh both Sigma Chess (with the Hiarcs engine) and Shredder Chess are very well recommended.  I don't have a mac but my personal preference is ShredderChess.  I like the engine and the GUI and it has proven to be the most stable and bug free.  But that is just my opinon.

There are also free options such as Arena for a GUI and Stockfish 1.6 as an engine.  Some people really like SCID as a free database catch all program.

Again I say get some of the free software and some of the free demos of the commercial programs and find the ones you like the best.  I hope this has been helpful.

Well you already have a diamond membership so that's a great start!

The video lessons, tactics trainer, and chess mentor are great resources as far as learning material goes, and I don't think you need any other software when it comes to those categories. 

For me, I just have the diamond membership and everything else I have is freeware. I either use 365chess.com, http://chessok.com/?page_id=352, or the chess.com for databases. If I want to check on an extremely theoretical position I would try to find some discussions on chesspub.com.

For engine, there are plenty of free ones. They might not be as good as Fritz or Rybka, but they are plenty better than me so that's good enough for me. 

That brings up an interesting question: do I actually need any other software besides Chess.com? It's got computer analysis, it's got a database, so what does other software offer that Chess.com doesn't?

It's simple dude..

you can play it offline.. anywhere, without hotspot and internet cable..

If you're prepared to pay, Aquarium is amazing! Otherwise, just stick to SCID or Arena.

I'm certainly no expert in this area, but I second Arena and then any number of free engines you can download to use with it, including the free version of Rybka.

I also own Chessmaster 10 and Fritz 10, but I almost always find myself using Arena.  It loads fast and is easy to use.

Amy