- CHESS PROGRAMS FOR MAC FULL
- CHESS PROGRAMS FOR MAC SOFTWARE
- CHESS PROGRAMS FOR MAC FREE
- CHESS PROGRAMS FOR MAC MAC
The pieces are gorgeous, and the on-screen control buttons save a lot of time otherwise spent in travelling to the menu bar. I personally prefer the 2D display, which I think is the nicest looking Macintosh chess interface available at any price. These changes are representative of the many improvements made throughout the program. The menu bar is now visible in 3D mode, the optional digital clocks are less obtrusive, and the side to move is now indicated by glowing yellow LEDs embedded in the right edge of the wood board. The 3D display has been polished since the earlier version.
CHESS PROGRAMS FOR MAC FREE
Sigma is the only free Macintosh program with the option of displaying the board in a 3D view using “true perspective” pieces like those in the commercial chess programs Chessmaster 6000 and Virtual Chess. If the “Novice Levels” in Sigma Chess are too easy for you, Sigma Chess 5.0 now has a “Playing Strength” feature, where you can set Sigma Chess’s approximate strength numerically (higher numbers are stronger), as an alternative to setting the time Sigma uses or the number of moves it looks ahead. Starting with Sigma Chess 5, Sigma Chess was optimized for Power Macintosh, making it much stronger. The last ATPM review rated Sigma Chess 4.02 higher than all the rest, and Sigma Chess 5.1.2 is much better than 4.0.2, with many major improvements and a host of minor improvements.
CHESS PROGRAMS FOR MAC MAC
It has many nice things no other Mac freeware/shareware chess program includes, such as a double-clickable chess tutorial (“Rules of Chess”), an illustrated online manual, and a collection of instructive games, endgames, combinations, and chess problems. Sigma Chess is the strongest, prettiest, and most full-featured freeware/shareware GUI Mac chess program.
Recommended: 800圆00 display with thousands of colors, 10 MB of application RAM. Requirements: PowerPC-based Mac with System 7.5. Two other important factors are ease of use and features, which is why I’m not reviewing Crafty: Most of Crafty’s features can only be accessed through a command line interface.ĭeveloper: Ole K. Price and convenience of acquisition are important factors, and commercial programs can’t touch the price of freeware/shareware programs (Vanessa Chess is $10 shareware, the other four are freeware) or the convenience of downloading.įor those of you who find chess program strength of supreme importance, HIARCS 7.0, available online at Your Move Chess and Games and GambitSoft, is by far the strongest Mac chess program.
For an opponent that is challenging, rather than unbeatable, one must usually set the computer to an “easy” level, or limit the number of moves the program looks ahead to one or two moves (“fixed depth 1” or “fixed depth 2” in computer chess argot).
CHESS PROGRAMS FOR MAC FULL
With the power of modern Macs, even Vanessa Chess is a much stronger player than most humans when set to full strength. These days, chess strength should seldom be your primary decision factor in selecting a chess program. Sigma Chess beat all the others-their score against Sigma Chess was: Crafty 14.11B (47%), MacChess 4.0e (39%), Screamer 1.0 (25%), and Vanessa Chess 2.01 (10%). I’ve played 100-game matches between each of five programs using the excellent freeware chess umpire/database program, ExaChess Lite 2.1. Sigma Chess 5.12 is the strongest Macintosh freeware/shareware chess program reviewed in ATPM.
CHESS PROGRAMS FOR MAC SOFTWARE
Since Macintosh chess software is my hobby (I own dozens of Macintosh chess programs, and maintain the Macintosh Chess Software Index), I volunteered to write about them. Since that review, Sigma Chess was upgraded, and Vanessa Chess was released. ATPM reviewed five chess software programs in the September 1999 issue.
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