ExaChess Downloads
ExaChess Lite
ExaChess Lite, the free reduced-feature version of ExaChess, includes the ExaChess (Pro) full user documentation.
- ExaChess Lite 4.0.2 (version 4.0, 4.1MB - dmg file)
- ExaChess Lite 3.1.3 for OS X versions earlier than 10.3.9 (version 3.1.3, 3.4MB - dmg file)
ExaChess
ExaChess (Pro) is not available for general download. Please try ExaChess Lite as a demo version. See Ordering for information on how to order ExaChess.
If you are a registered user of any prior version of ExaChess, then ExaChess 4 is a free upgrade (electronic delivery option only). Contact Exant Software (the publisher of ExaChess) for download information.
UCI Chess Engines
ExaChess 4 supports UCI chess engines, and includes the strong Fruit engine. There are dozens of strong UCI engines available that run under Windows, but only a small fraction make it to the Mac. For surveys of available engines see Chessville Chess Engine Update or Top UCI Chess Engines. For a current rating list of engines, see the IPON Rating List.
The following is a selection of strong free and commercial UCI engines for the Mac:
Free Engines
- Fruit. This is a strong UCI chess engine developed by Fabien
Letouzey. It was sold commercially for short period in its development, but
was originally and is again free. Source code is also freely available.
The Fruit 2.2.1 release is included with ExaChess 4. The latest release is Fruit 2.3.1.
- Fruit 2.2.1 from the FruitChess site (0.3 MB)
- Fruit 2.3.1 from the SuperChessEngine site (0.3 MB)
- Stockfish. This is a very strong open source UCI chess engine developed by Tord Romstad,
Marco Costalba, and Joona Kiiski. It currently (2011) the highest rated of the freeware engines.
Versions are available for Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android.
The latest release is Stockfish 2.1.1.
- Stockfish 2.1.1 for Mac from the Stockfish Chess site (0.3 MB). NOTE: After unzipping the download, it is necessary to set execute permission (chmod 755) on the stockfish-211-32 and stockfish-211-64 binaries.
- Toga II. This is derivative of Fruit by Thomas Gaksch with multi-processor support
and other enhancements.
- Toga II 1.2b2-Mac from the SuperChessEngine site.
Commercial Engines
- HIARCS. A powerful World Championship winning commercial chess engine by Mark Uniacke and
available direct from the developer. HIARCS is the current 2011 World Chess Software Champion.
It is available on Mac, Windows, iOS (iPhone and iPad) devices.
- HIARCS Chess web site.
- Deep Junior. Another very strong chess engine, by Amir Ban and Shay Bushinsky,
available through the Hiarcs site. This is the program that drew a match 3-3 with Gary Kasparov in 2003.
Junior is the current 2011 World Computer Chess Champion. It is available on Mac and Windows.
- Deep Junior at the HIARCS Chess web site.
- Shredder. A very strong chess engine by Stefan Meyer-Kahlen. Sold for the Mac as
a chess playing program (i.e. including a user interface), it contains a separate UCI engine.
- Shredder web site.
Chess playing programs
Earlier versions of ExaChess implemented an AppleEvents interface, and a number of Mac chess playing programs were modified to support this interface. The included ZZZZZZ is one such program. The information below pertains to these programs, but needs checking to bring it up to date. ExaChess 4 continues to offer the AppleEvents interface.
The following is a selection of mostly older chess playing programs for the Macintosh that can use ExaChess as a front end and can act as analysis engines for positions within ExaChess. In alphabetical order:
- Crafty. Bob Hyatt's freeware program. The rather old version 14.11C is fully
compatible with ExaChess. A number of other Mac versions of
Crafty do not work with ExaChess. Compatible versions are Crafty 14.11C (a
Carbon application), Crafty 14.11B (a Classic application) and Crafty 11.13.
The newest of these supports the new AppleEvent suite required for analysis
as a game is browsed and game annotation from within ExaChess.
- Crafty 14.11C from this site (1 MB)
- Source code for Crafty 14.11C (0.3 MB)
- The Crafty FTP site has many extras, including very large opening books, endgame table databases, and full source code for the latest Unix and Windows versions.
- Screamer. William Bryant's freeware chess program. Largely
compatible with ExaChess. A new version of Screamer (Screamer II, a Carbon
application) has been promised but hasn't yet appeared. The Screamer site is no
longer up.
- Screamer 1.0 (build 57) from this site (1 MB, PPC only - sit file)
- Sigma Chess. Ole Kjaer Christensen's chess program. Featuring
beautiful graphics and an optional 3D board, it is a Carbon application
available in a freeware Lite version and a registered version. Version 6.0
is largely compatible with ExaChess. PowerPC only.
- SigmaChess 6.0 from the SigmaChess site (2.9 MB, sit file)
- Vektor3. Manfred Schubert's shareware chess program for Mac OS X.
Largely compatible with ExaChess. Attractive
user interface and many features including web publishing and print
publishing.
- Vektor3 3.2.1 from the Schubert-it site (2.4 MB, dmg file)
- ZZZZZZ. An updated version of ZZZZZZ (version 3.6, fully
compatible with ExaChess) is included with ExaChess Lite and ExaChess Pro.
- Source code for ZZZZZZ (412K)
Chess fonts
Various freeware and commercial chess fonts are now available on the Internet.
- The Nørresundby Chess Club site is an excellent reference page to chess fonts available on the Internet, most of which can be downloaded directly from the site.
- Alpine Electronics sells the three high quality fonts known as Hastings, Linares and Zurich.