Linux chess program PyChess
Checkmate
© © satori, 123rf.com
Powerful and flexible chess programs have been scarce on Linux. But PyChess sees the free operating system checkmate other platforms.
The game of chess is one of the oldest strategic board games known to humankind. Despite its centuries-old history, chess has lost none of its fascination, and the advent of computer technology in recent decades has not stopped the game of kings. Computers with multi-core processors effortlessly beat most human chess players. The market for chess programs is overrun by countless more-or-less sophisticated competitors that spoil users for choice.
Linux did not play a major role as a platform for chess programs for a long time. Although all major desktops have had graphical chess programs for many years, they have been unable to assert themselves because of functional deficits, poor performance of the chess engines, and a lack of compatibility with the commercial offerings from the Windows world. It was only with the publication of the Java-based chess program Shredder [1], available for Linux for the first time in 2006, that the tide began to turn. Shredder is now regarded as one of the most powerful commercial chess programs in the game, but free applications under Linux have also made significant progress.
Most of the current crop of chess programs on Linux are made up of two components: The graphical user interface defines the gaming experience, and above all, supports additional features for advanced users, such as game analysis or replaying matches for training purposes. Underneath the interface, the brain – the actual chess program – interacts with the user. These engines do not have a graphical interface but simply compute the moves.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.
-
Danish Ministry of Digital Affairs Transitions to Linux
Another major organization has decided to kick Microsoft Windows and Office to the curb in favor of Linux.
-
Linux Mint 20 Reaches EOL
With Linux Mint 20 at its end of life, the time has arrived to upgrade to Linux Mint 22.
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.
-
KaOS 2025.05 Officially Qt5 Free
If you're a fan of independent Linux distributions, the team behind KaOS is proud to announce the latest iteration that includes kernel 6.14 and KDE's Plasma 6.3.5.