Which Free Chess downloads would you recomend name your top 5 or more programs.

my top 5 are Arena----Fritz 5.32----Scid----Chess base 2007 light----Chess theatre1.18----Peshka an my top 5 chess engines are Rybka2.3.2a----Thinker5.4c----Twisted logic----Delfi----Pro deo.

Scid, Rybka... don't need anything else.

what is scid?

Got any links for downloading these wonderful programs? 

Share the wealth people!

Shane's Chess Information Database. Shane disappeared a long time ago, but after a while people decided they could continue developing it.

You can use it to store chess games in huge amounts, and do all kinds of searches and analyses on them.

Some people say it's hard to use, I wouldn't know since I use it since version 1.2 or so. It can do absolutely everything I need from a chess database.

http://scid.sourceforge.net/

I've been using SCID for a couple months. I haven't learned to do a lot in it yet but I like it so far. I've been populating it with PGN file I download from various sites but it's a chore to keep the database tidy. I have to watch for duplicate games, players' names spelled several ways, and even incomplete or corrupted games.

I suppose an easy way would be to buy something like Chessbase and use it's database but that kind of defeats the purpose.

So this scid jobby, do you have to download an engine to plug into it? Anyone recommend a (free) one?

It's true that building your own database is sometimes hard work. I downloaded a number of files in the 90s, but since then I've only always updated them with the weekly files from TWIC. That seems to work pretty well.

I also have a database that consists of monthly databases I got from Chess Today, and of course one database with my own OTB games as white, and one as black.

You can find the free chess programs here at the chess.com free download section or zarkon Fischer free chess program web site.Infinity chess----Compo chess2.5----Chess Assistant 7 light----Der Bringer1.9----nagasaki5.12----CT Art3.0----Mayura chessboard 2.1----slow chess blitz---- chess engines The toga an fruit series of chess engines newer ones like Cyclone 3.4.I have found these programs as good as the ones you pay money for.B the way the new Scid is a big upgrade.Free chess online interfaces such as Babas 4.0 an chess assistant club----Chess Client2.0----huge free chess pgn files of 10000000 or more chess games to load in free chess data bases such as Scid.-----jose1.44----If you still like dos programs oldie but goodies such as Chess genius 3.0----fritz 2.0----sargon5----chess tiger light----complete chess  course all which load fine from windows xp into dos mode.great player game collections such as morphy---- Fischer----Fine----Lasker----Colle etc., etc.You will be shocked at the amount of Free stuff to download an great free chess books now on PDF files all for download by the way some books will load on chess base light 2007  demo  but what a Demo very few limitations with work arounds listed for these at zarkons siteRybka 2.3.2a just think  that only less than a year ago you would have paid around 50 dollars for it  now just  download Peshka which is a great free training program an it has several older rybka engines however the newest one rybka 2.3.2a32bit is rated at 3023 at 40 moves in 40 min. to load it on gui Platforms is easy for example on arena go to add new chess engines go to where you downloaded peshka click on the arrow scan this will pull up several Rybka Chess engines one is the complete rybka 2.3.2a engine file click on it an presto you have it with no time restrictions as in the Peshka program its set to about 2 sec a move but you will find even at 2 sec a move is very tough however after you load the engine files on Gui s such as Arena or Infinity chess or chess Assistant 7  or programs such as fritz 7 thru 11 you can set it to any time control for use.Try the rybka Aquarium Demo gui comes with several engines an you can load more however all your engines are set to 2 sec a move but for me thats great for practice fo 3 min blitz also comes with a nice small data base.Trust me you do not no what your missing out on.In these tough Money time if your not working or cut back or scared of being unemployed you will find no need to be sad about not being able to buy  chess programs as so much is out now for free.

I'm a little undecided how I want to structure my database. It would be nice to have one big one but I see advantages to having several. There are tools to help me clean up the database but I haven't used them enough to be very efficient with them yet. I'm very comfortable working with databases so it's not too big a deal. I like SCID and I'm sure I'll like it even more when I get a good baseline database squared away.After that, any additions should be easy.

I'll probably end up with databases for endgames, puzzles, studies and other things that only use positions or partial games so they don't clutter up the main database.

I like the Data base on Fritz 5.32 you have to load your on but its simple also need to add your on opening book i use the rybka turk blitz book an yes its free also if you have newer fritz programs up thru fritz 10 when you reload them off your disk you will find fritz 5.32 will add the chess bASE ENGINES.

Try stockfisch 1.4 free uci chess engine i have just loaded on Arena an on Fritz 11 an my other gui platforms a very strong Free chess engine.

Chess Position Trainer.

I transferred all my paper-based opening rep to it and I find it much easier to review particular openings and variations since.

For a free and strong opponent for your Palm device, try Open Chess and a free engine like Fruit. It will keep you occupied on trips and other down times.

Two slightly offbeat programs are:

Problemiste, A viewer and solver for mate in xxx moves, a huge collection of problems available. If you are into composing, an excellent tool for checking your compositions for flaws. Can also do helpmates, selfmates and duplexes.

The free version has almost no restrictions, apart from it limits the file size of new collections.

[edit the collections are also searchable, if you put in a position, it will search all the files, and you can find the composer, date, first published, awards won, etc. really cool]

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/problemiste/

EPD2DIAG is a cool little program that helps you to make chess diagrams in gif format:

http://www.rebel.nl/epd2diag.htm

Arena----infinity chess----mayura chessboard----tarsarch----chess assistant light demo----aquarium rbka demo---- these are the free gui s that i know off that you can load all the great free UCI chess engines.With arena you can also load winboard engines.Now the regular winboard you have a adaptor which allows you to load uci engines however for the average chess player this is to much trouble to fool with winboard as arena 2.1 loads win an uci engines with just a few mouse clicks.If your a older player like me a blast from the past or a youngster an would like to see where it all started then try these DOS programs.Chessgenuis 3----fritz2.51---- or if you prefer window try chessmaster 3000 which runs fine with windows xp.I use windows xp as vista as a windows program is why i have put off buying a newer computer cannot stand vista.

Chessbase light 2009 demo is the new upgrade from chessbase light 2007.The limitation is  no one databsae past 32500 games can ne loaded.however you will find a lot of good free databsaes to download as i have about 30 on chessbaselight 2007 an 2009 which total up to around 600000 games.SCID i have ver 3.7 however ver 4.0 is out very good as good the best money coul buy just a few years ago.Now on zarkons site he has a demo work around for chess base light where you first load a big database say 350000 games on fritz 5.32 an use the great free fritz5.32 program to break the say 350000 game data base down to several say 32000 game bases then load these off fritz 5.32 to chessbaselight2007 -2009programs,