Chess games

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Chess.png

Chess is a popular game which is played by two players on a checkered gameboard with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid.

List of Chess games[edit]

This is a list of free/libre chess games:



Game Screenshot Last Release Genres Description
GNU Chess GNU-Chess.png 2021-07-14 Chess
GNU Chess
GNU-Chess.png
GenreChess
Latest release6.2.9  (Announcement)
Release dateJuly 14th, 2021
PlatformsLinux, Windows, Mac, FreeBSD, Haiku
DevelopersChua Kong Sian, Stuart Cracraft, Lukas Geyer, Simon Waters
Code licensesGPL v3 or later
Media licensesGPL v3 or later
Contribute
GNU Chess is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well.
Available as a package in:  
Error creating thumbnail: /bin/bash: line 1: convert: command not found
Arch:
gnuchess 
Openlogo-debianV2.svg Debian: gnuchess 
Fedora logo.svg Fedora: gnuchess  
Gentoo Linux logo matte.svg Gentoo: games-board/gnuchess 
UbuntuCoF.svg Ubuntu: gnuchess 
OpenSUSE Logo.svg OpenSUSE: gnuchess 
Mageia logo small.jpg Mageia: gnuchess 
Flatpak logo.png Flatpak: org.sugarlabs.Chess 
Snapcraft-logo.svg Snap: gnuchess 
Daemon-phk.svg FreeBSD: gnuchess 
Haiku (operating system) logo.svg Haiku: games-board/gnuchess

GNU Chess is a program that plays the ancient board game, Chess. It is licensed under the GPLv2. The original version of GNU Chess, written by Stuart Cracraft[1], was one of the first major games to be developed deliberately as free software. On the game Free Software Foundation founder Richard M. Stallman said "We even developed a chess game, GNU Chess, because a complete [free] system needs games too."[2] Version 6 of GNU Chess is based on[3] Fruit, a chess engine by Fabien Letouzey[1]

With Flatpak GNU Chess can be played by installing Sugarchess, a graphical front end made specifically for it.[4] A contemporary version was included on the 100 Great Games for Linux shovelware collection, as well as The UNIX Book of Games by Janice Winsor in 1996.


CBoard Cboard.png 2018-09-28 Chess, Text-mode
CBoard
Cboard.png
CBoard ncurses console chess game
GenreChess, Text-mode
Latest release0.7.5  (Announcement)
Release dateSeptember 28th, 2018
DeveloperBen Kibbey
Code licenseGPL [5]
Media licenseno media
P. languageC
Libraryncurses
Contribute
CBoard is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well.

CBoard is a text-mode chess game front-end and editor for PGN (Portable Game Notation) files. It uses unicode characters to display chess pieces.

PyChess Pychess.png 2023-04-04 Chess
PyChess
Pychess.png
PyChess
GenreChess
Latest release1.0.4  (Announcement)
Release dateApril 4th, 2023
Code licenseGPL [6]
Media licenseGPL [6]
P. languagePython
Contribute
PyChess is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well.

PyChess is a graphical front-end that works with xboard-compatible engines such as GNU Chess and stockfish, and also comes with its own chess engine if no other is available. PyChess is also capable of online play using the FICS server. Features include hints, different chess variants, and themeable chess pieces.

SilChess SilChess-EM071.png Chess
SilChess
SilChess-EM071.png
SilChess in Eagle Mode 0.71.0
GenreChess
DeveloperOliver Hamann
Code licenseGPLv3
Media licenseGPLv3
P. languageC++
Contribute
SilChess is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well.

SilChess (from “silly chess”) is a chess program written by Oliver Hamann in C++ in the years 2000—2009.

Fairy-Max Fairy-Max on xboard.png 2011-07-10 Chess
Fairy-Max
Fairy-Max on xboard.png
GenreChess
Latest release4.8R
Release dateJuly 10th, 2011
DeveloperH. G. Muller
Code licensecustom non-copyleft[7]
Contribute
Fairy-Max is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well.

Fairy-Max is a xboard compatible chess engine for playing user defined chess variants with non-orthodox pieces. The movement rules for new pieces can be defined in a text file. Fairy-Max can also play regular chess.

GNOME Games Please add the Gameinfo template to the article

This article needs update. This article should be split into one article per game


GNOME Games or GNOME Games Collection was a collection of sixteen small games in a variety of styles and genres for the GNOME desktop (similar to KDE Games and Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection). As of GNOME 3.8 the games were separated into individual packages and the collection doesn't exist anymore.[8]

Gnome Chess GnomeChess.png 2023-03-17 Chess
Gnome Chess
GnomeChess.png
Gnome Chess
GenreChess
Latest release43.2  (Announcement)
Release dateMarch 17, 2023
DeveloperGnome
Code licenseGPLv3[9]
Media licenseGPLv3
Contribute
Gnome Chess is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well.

Gnome Chess (formerly a part of GNOME Games) is a 2D chess game for GNOME desktop. It automatically detects installed chess engines (such as GNU Chess) for computer players.[10][11] It used to have a 3D view mode, but it was dropped in version 3.13.4.[12]

KDE Games Please add the Gameinfo template to the article KDE Games is a division of the KDE project, creating a collection of quality games for KDE desktop.[13] It is similar to GNOME Games and Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection. Most games are distributed under GPLv2.[14]
3Dc 3dchess.png 1996-04-11 Chess, Board games
3D chess
3dchess.png
GenreChess, Board games
Latest release0.8.1
Release dateApril 11th, 1996
DevelopersPaul Hicks, Bernard Kennedy
Code licenseGPL 2+[15]
Media licenseGPL 2+
LibrariesXpm lib, libdx, Xaw3d
Contribute
3D chess is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well.

3D chess is kind of a chess game on 3 boards. The pieces are mostly from chess. There are 26 directions to move. 3D chess comes with a computer opponent. A version was included on the 100 Great Games for Linux shovelware collection.

Chess3D Chess3d.png Chess, Board games
Chess3D
Chess3d.png
GenreChess, Board games
DevelopersFrenchYann
Code licenseGPLv3
Media licenseGPLv3[16][17]
LibraryWebGL
Contribute
Chess3D is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well.

Chess3D is a HTML/WebGL 3D chess game with AI.

GNU Shogi GNUShogi.png 2014-02-17 Chess
GNU Shogi
GNUShogi.png
GNU Shogi in the terminal
Genre Chess
Latest release1.4.2  (Announcement)
Release dateFebruary 17, 2014
Code licenseGPL
EngineGNU Shogi
P. languageC
Contribute
GNU Shogi is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well.
Available as a package in:  
Error creating thumbnail: /bin/bash: line 1: convert: command not found
Arch AUR:
gnushogi

GNU Shogi is a chess engine for the traditional Japanese chess variant, called shōgi. The game can be played in the terminal, or it can be played with the graphical interface of XBoard.

GPSFish no image Chess
GPSFish
Genre Chess
Code licenseGPL
Contribute
GPSFish is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well.

GPSFish is a port of the powerful Stockfish chess engine to the Japanese chess variant, shōgi.


Stockfish no image 2023-06-30 Chess
Stockfish
Genre Chess
Latest release16  (Announcement)
Release dateJune 30th, 2023
Code licenseGPL
Contribute
Stockfish is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well.
Available as a package in:  
Slackware logo.svg Slackware: stockfish 
Error creating thumbnail: /bin/bash: line 1: convert: command not found
Arch AUR:
stockfish 
Openlogo-debianV2.svg Debian: stockfish 
Fedora logo.svg Fedora: stockfish  
Gentoo Linux logo matte.svg Gentoo: games-board/stockfish 
UbuntuCoF.svg Ubuntu: stockfish 
OpenSUSE Logo.svg OpenSUSE: stockfish 
Mageia logo small.jpg Mageia: stockfish 
Daemon-phk.svg FreeBSD: stockfish 
Haiku (operating system) logo.svg Haiku: games-board/stockfish


Stockfish is a chess engine, that is to say a chess AI. It is at the time of this writing the strongest[18] or in general one of the strongest computer chess programs in existence.

A notable feature of Stockfish versus other computer chess engines, which has made it so exceedingly powerful, is the Fishtest worker program.[19]. Users run this program and donate their computer time to have development versions of Stockfish play very large numbers of test games against one another. This is used to measure the effectiveness of proposed changes, allowing the program to grow rapidly in playing strength and letting regressions be weeded out.

Eboard Eboard.png 2018-09-24 Chess
eboard
Eboard.png
Genre Chess
Latest release1.1.3  (Announcement)
Release dateSeptember 24, 2018
Code licenseGPLv2[20]
Media licenseGPLv2[20]
Contribute
eboard is a free game. This means that the source code is available to be studied, modified, and distributed. Most projects look for help with testing, documentation, graphics, etc., as well.
Available as a package in:  
Error creating thumbnail: /bin/bash: line 1: convert: command not found
Arch AUR:
eboard 
Openlogo-debianV2.svg Debian: eboard 
Fedora logo.svg Fedora: eboard  
Gentoo Linux logo matte.svg Gentoo: games-board/eboard 
UbuntuCoF.svg Ubuntu: eboard 
OpenSUSE Logo.svg OpenSUSE: eboard 
Mageia logo small.jpg Mageia: eboard 
Daemon-phk.svg FreeBSD: eboard

eboard is a chess interface for Unix and Unix-like operating systems. It allows the user to play chess online against other users or against any chess engine with an Xboard compatible interface. eboard is primarily intended for playing on the Free Internet Chess Server (FICS) or similar service.[21] It suports some chess variants such as the four player game bughouse chess.[22]

Note: As of February 2021, the Fedora repository is unmaintained. The Gentoo repository is outdated. Several other distros are also distributing outdated versions, although they are generally not bleeding edge distros anyway.