Chess engine is the unique software which is built into the program shell (e.g. "Fritz", "Arena", "Shredder") thus multiplying the force of the game shell. For example, "Kasparov Chess" is very good and clever shell. The maximum rating which can be set in it is 2600. And the rating of the chess engines reaches 3000-3200. That is why the chess engines are so popular. Where do the chess engines originate from and who makes them? This question is not trivial, vice versa it is quite actual, so it is worth talking about.

The first record of the chess engine was made about 20 years ago. That was just the time when the UCI standard was developed - the universal chess interface, allowing the chess engine to be connected to the graphic interface of the program shell. The engine made to this standard can be easily connected to any chess program. The standard was worked out by Stephan Meyer-Kahlen, German programmer, who was born in 1968 in Dusseldorf. He is also the founder of one of the most famous chess programs - Shredder, which is the 12-times world champion among chess machines. The UCI standard was presented to the world by Rudolf Huber. The standard has great advantages. For example, if the engine does not save the database of the games played (although it is better if this task is performed by the engine), then one can easily manage this database by UCI. As the UCI protocol is absolutely free, it gives it the advantage over the other protocols. It can be used for private purposes and as the open-source as well. This protocol was used by only a few programs until Chessbase Company (producing Fritz) began to support this protocol in 2002. Nowadays, this protocol is used by about 100 chess programs.

The majority of the chess engines are made very thoroughly and published in the net absolutely free of charge. In Russia there are the developers making engines, as well. E.g. SmarThink developed by Sergey Markov, GreKo developed by Vladimir Medvedev, Strelka developed by Yuri Osipov. These engines, as well as many others, can be downloaded from our website. As the number of the chess engines is growing, we chose the best ones, as there is simply no possibility to present all of them here.

Komodo 11 Version Windows 64

Komodo 10 2016 - Developer Mark Lefler. Version for Android, Linux, OSX, Windows ALL.

Houdini - Developer Robert Blow (Belgium). 5.01 UCI Chess Engines [Full]

Komodo 8 - Champions 2015 - Developer Mark Lefler. Version for Android, Linux, OSX, Windows 7, 8 (32/64).

Houdini 4 PRO - Developer Robert Blow (Belgium). Version 4 PRO.

Houdini 2.0 - Developer Robert Blow (Belgium). Version 2.0. To date, the best engine. And you can Download Houdini 2.0 for a direct link.

Deep Rybka 4 - developer Vas Rajlich. Version 4 (w32)

Stockfish - Developers Tord Romstad, Marco Kostalba Kiiski and Joon. Version 2.11

Critter - Developer Richard Vida. Version 1.1.37

Naum - Developer Alexander Naumov (Canada). Version 4.2

Spark - Version 1.0

WildCat - Developer Igor Korshunov (Belarus). Version 8.0

SmarThink - Developer Sergei Markov (Russia). Version 0.17a

SOS - Designer Rudolf Huber (Germany). Version 11.99

Zchess - Designer Franck Zibi (France). Version 2.22

Gromit - Developers Frank Schneider and Kai Skibbe (Germany). Version 3.0

Ufim - Developer Niaz Hasanov (Russia). Version 8.2

Mustang - Developer Alex Korneichuk (Belarus). Version 4.97

GreKo - Developer Vladimir Medvedev (Russia). Version 8.2 + sour

Kaissa2 - Developer Vladimir Elin (Belarus). Version 1.8a

Adamant - Developer George Varentsov (Russia). Version 1.7

Booot - Developer of Alexei Morozov (Ukraine). Version 5.1.0 + sources

Eeyore - Developer Meidel Anton (Russia). Version 1.52 (32 & 64bit)

Zeus - Developer Vadim Bykov (Russia). Version 1.29

Arics - Developer Vladimir Fadeev (Belarus). Version 0.95a

Anechka - Developer Sergey Nefedov (Russia). Version 0.08

Patriot - Developer Vladimir Elin (Belarus). Version 2006

AlChess - Developer Alex Lobanov (Russia). Version 1.5b

OBender - Designer Evgeny Kornilov (Russia). Version 3.2.4x

Counter - Developer Vadim Chizhov (Russia). Version 1.2

Strelka - Designer Yuri Osipov (Russia). Version 2.0B + sources

Belka - Developers Yuri Osipov, Igor Korshunov (Russia - Belarus). Version 1.8.20

Ifrit - Developer Brenkman Andrew (Russia). Version 4.4 + source

Bison - Developer Ivan Bonkin (Russia). Version 9.11 + sour

Uralochka - Developer Ivan Maklyakov (Russia). Version 1.1b

Marginal - Designer Alexander Turikov (Russia). Version 0.1

Chess - Designer Evgeny Kornilov (Russia). Version 3

Woodpecker - Designer Evgeny Kornilov (Russia). Version 2

Gull - Developer Vadim Demishev (Russia). Version 1.2

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Download free chess engines - Komodo 10, Houdini