If you're getting a little long in the tooth, and grey on top, then youmight be stuck back in the days of yon when chess software wasn't worththe price of the floppy disk that it came on. Well my frie If you're getting a little long in the tooth, and grey on top, then youmight be stuck back in the days of yon when chess software wasn't worththe price of the floppy disk that it came on. Well my friend, times havechanged, and this is definitely NOT your father's chess software we'retalking about here.Human vs. ComputerComputer chess software really came into its own in February 1996 whenlegendary Chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov played a six-game match inPhiladelphia against IBM Chess software nicknamed "Deep Blue". Althoughhe declared his 4-2 score a "win for mankind", he also admitted that itwas the most difficult tournament of his career.IBM, sporting their next generation of chess software named "Deeper Blue"demands a rematch which in played in May of 1997 in New York. The chesssoftware puts a whuppin on Kasparov and defeats him 3.5-2.5.Fortunately or unfortunately, depending upon your point of view, IBMdidn't sell their chess software and the industry kind of went to sleepfor a while. Well, it wasn't really sleeping, big things were going onbehind the scenes. And that's great news for us chess software geeks!The availability of chess software has exploded since the days of DeepBlue. Now you can run chess software on all of the popular computeroperating systems including Windows, MAC, Linux, Unix, and the Palm. Youhave choices when it comes to the categories or functions of chesssoftware as well.Chess Training SoftwareChess software in this category is designed to improve visualization and movecalculation skills in Chess. These are basic essential skills that needto be honed in order to move from being an amature to a master. Many chess software training titles also teach strategies for theopening middlegame and endgame so you can learn how to strategise andthwart your opponent's moves while still executing your game plan.Peer-to-Peer Chess SoftwareThe chess software category is simply amazing. Peer-to-peer chesssoftware enables you to play chess against remote opponents withoutconnecting to a chess server. You simply connect directly to each otherover the Internet or via any other network connection including yourhome Windows LAN.Most titles give you the opportunity to connect directly to apre-arranged player or to find an available player through availablemessage boards.Peer-to-Peer software may likely become the dominant chess software inthe future and replace chess servers as the preferred method of playingchess on the computer.Chess Software DatabaseChess software databases are like holding the sub total of the world'schess knowledge on your local PC. Most programs offer thousands of pastgrandmaster games for you to review either in text or video format.There are endless opening, middlegame, and endgame strategies. You can read annotations and some titles even have photos of the world'sgrandmasters. Some chess software databases come with built-in chess software thatlets you play out the games that are in the database and even allow thedatabase to analyze your game.Prices are low and chess software databases make a great learning andanalytical tool.Computer vs. Computer Chess SoftwareThese chess software programs pit computers against computers using anInternet or LAN connection. They are good learning tools in some waysbut you shouldn't read too much into their strategies. These chesssoftware programs can't actually "think" like humans do. Theirs is amathematical world where moves are calculated according to a set offormulas that allow it to determine the "best" move based upon allpossible moves at the moment.In spite of their "non-thinking" processing, chess software has evolvedto become a formidable opponent even for the grandmasters.In my opinion nothing beats a head-to-head game with a living breathingopponent who is seated a few feet away from you on the other side of areal chessboard. However, I realize that today's lifestyle does notalways allow us the luxury of pre-planned leisure time and they have topick up a game whenever and wherever we can. With that it mind, youshould pick yourself up some chess software for those times when a humanin he same room is not an option. Article Tags: Chess Software, Software Databases Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com