If you have ever looked for a simple Chess program for Windows (or Linux for that matter), you need look no further than WinBoard.
Winboard (or XBoard in it’s original incarnation) has been around for a long time - even spawning a protocol all of it’s own for chess engines to interface with - the “Winboard Protocol”.
For those who have no idea, a “Chess Engine” is a computer program designed exclusively to play chess - it has no interface as such, although you could play it from the command line with typed commands (which is exactly what the chess board program does - although you don’t see it happening).
Winboard also has one more trick up it’s sleeve - it can communicate with chess servers on the internet, allowing you to play real-time chess with other people. One such server is FICS - the Free Internet Chess Server, at www.freechess.org. Through the WinBoard interface you can “seek” games, find out about your opponents, or simply talk with other uses.
During big matches (such as the World Championships), you will often find FICS relaying the moves of each game in real time through their servers, and huge numbers of people watching and talking.
Head on over to www.tim-mann.org/xboard.html and take a look at WinBoard today!