Then Chess Giants is for you.

Chess Giants is a complete rewrite from scratch of Windows Vista's Chess Titans. It does provide the exact same look and feel. But in addition to the standard features, it has many other flavors:

It doesn't require Windows Vista.
It doesn't need a fast machine to run.
It plays at the International Great Master level (2700 ELO).
It reads and saves games in the PGN format.
It has additional options, such as a game clock.
It is possible to plug in virtually any chess engine on the market that is compatible with the Chess Engine Communication Protocol.
It will soon be possible to play online on the major Internet Chess servers (development is underway).
It comes in two languages, French and English.
It is an open specifications project, meaning you can still contact the author to request to add such or such feature.

And more of all, YOU PAY WHAT YOU WANT FOR IT!

Chess Giants is a donateware, which means you can use it free of charge for any purpose, from the moment you make a donation of an amount you choose to the author. If you are satisfied with it and want to help Chess Giants improve or motivate the development of other quality features, don't hesitate to raise the amount of your donation; all amounts small or large will be welcome and gratefully appreciated.

The download of Chess Giants 1.4 will start as soon as your donation will have been committed

Note: if you don't have a PayPal account, just click on the Continue link at the bottom left of the page, above the bank card logos. Also don't forget to click the return to the website button when your donation is validated.

How much are we supposed to give? You give what you want! Just don't be insulting for my work. For the comparison, the most sold commercial casual chess game (ChessMaster) is sold €20. I think that €10 for this one (which I find much more pleasant to play) is a honest amount.

Is there any way to try this before donating? Well, it's donateware, so if you want to test it, you may just donate one cent (everybody can spare one cent I suppose?) and then come back later to make another donation, if you think it's worth more - I'm highly confident you will. But if you intend to donate later, be sincere and do it. Please. I am fair with you, so be fair with me. :)

If we donate once, would we need to donate again for the next version? As you want. If you think the new version deserves it (for example, because you feel there's something significantly different from the previous one, or because you think you should have donated more in the first time), do. Else don't, and just throw a cent. It's up to you. I see donateware mostly as a means of distribution that relies on the fairness and responsibility of everyone, which I believe are two essential things that have gone missing nowadays in our usual forms of trade.

If there was the slightest problem (for example, a broken download) just e-mail me and provide your name, and the date and amount of your contribution. I will fix the problem right away.

Pierre-Marie Baty

Please consider that developing such software for free takes time, and that its author counts on your thankfulness to continue improving it. This may be an uncommon choice, yet it's up to you to show it's worth it. :)

Chess Giants 1.4 - 28/11/2009

- Added the possibility to save one's games in the PGN format (standard abbreviated algebraic notation used by the FIDE).
- Added a game playback mode that can read the PGN format.
- Possibility to choose one specific game in a multiple games PGN file.
- Added the possibility to comment a move or to modify an existing comment.
- Intuitive browsing of the game history using the arrow buttons and the arrow keys.
- Graphics engine improvement.

Chess Giants 1.3 - 20/10/2009

- MUCH better chess engine (2700 ELO, Chess Giants now plays at IGM level).
- Added the possibility to switch to top view, default view or custom view with just one key press.
- Possibility to cancel a move in human vs. computer and human vs. human play.
- Unlimited undo levels, all moves are cancellable up to the beginning of the game.
- Added the possibility to ask the chess engine what it thinks is the best move in human vs. computer play.
- Added a desktop shortcut during setup.
- Added a single-click uninstaller.

Chess Giants 1.2 - 08/10/2009

- Much better resource compression resulting in a dramatic reduction of the installer's size (20 Mb -> 9 Mb).

Chess Giants 1.1 - 08/10/2009

- Automatic language detection.
- Fixed a bug where taking a pawn en passant would not trigger the right sound.
- Fixed a bug where the quit message box would sometimes be ignored.

Chess Giants 1.0 - 05/10/2009

- Initial release.
- Has human vs human and human vs computer play.
- Uses GNUChess as a chess engine.
- Online play code not finished yet (I'm working on it).
- PLEASE send me a mail for any bug you find, so that I can fix it right away.

Pierre-Marie Baty

- Does Chess Giants work on Windows Vista or Windows Seven? Sure. Click here to see it.

- Does Chess Giants work on a 64-bit Windows? Yes it does.

- Why is Chess Giants donateware? At the beginning, I made it free because I wanted the maximum of people to enjoy it. I was thinking that the visitors would thank me for my work by sending me a little donation from time to time. Unfortunately, in two months, there has been 2,000 downloads, and only one person sent me... five dollars. Basically nothing. I was for starters very disappointed then I came to believe that maybe the people were too in a hurry to read the page, that they were jumping to the download button without noticing that I was inviting them to do a contribution (isn't it ?) So, I decided to make the donation act mandatory to begin the download. You aren't obligated to give a big amount: a few dollars or a few euros are enough. It is thus not completely free but almost: it's donateware. It's up to you to tell the price. :)

- When will the online play be available? It's planned for the next major release. That is, a release that contains more than bugfixes. Hopefully in a few weeks.

- The game seems to freeze, why? Most certainly it's not. If the game clock still ticks then you can tell it's not. But the computer may be pondering, especially if you've set the engine difficulty level very high. In this case, either wait for it to finish, or start a new game with a lower difficulty level.

- I found a bug/annoyance! Well then PLEASE let me know as soon as possible. Drop me an email. Don't just wait for the fix. If nobody tells me there's a bug around, I may very well not notice it at all during my tests.

- Do you need programmer's help? No, honestly I don't believe there can be room for two programmers on this software. But thanks for the intent. If you want to help, you may provide me with alternate textures, skins, or part models - but not code. Remember, if you want to motivate me, the best way is to make a donation.

- Can you add such or such cool feature? Sure. Drop me an email, tell me what you exactly want and we'll discuss that.

- Are you a professionnal programmer? Sort of yes, sort of no. I am just a computer autodidact who happened to achieve one or two cool things in his programmer's life. But I don't earn my living well for the moment; if you think your company could hire me, feel free to make an offer. I have a small resume, for those who are interested.

- Who are the two players on the splash screen? They are Anatoli Karpov, on the left, and Garry Kasparov to the right. They were having what is considered one of the tensest matches of the 20th century. At this time Karpov was the world champion and the challenger had to win 5 matches against him to become the new champion. Meantime the tournament would continue as long as these 5 games haven't been scored, either side. It took literally months and an incredible number of draw games for Kasparov to start earning points, and the tournament had to be stopped - officially to preserve the players' health.

- Who is the kid playing chess in the About dialog box? He's the young Anatoli Karpov. Yes, you guessed it, he's my favourite. I like his style of play, maybe because he was fan of the Cuban chess genius Capablanca, as I am.

- I'd like to play chess online against you. Really, you should think of a better opponent. :)

- Who's that guy with the hat when I click on the picture of the young Karpov in the About box? Er... that's me. I don't really look like that in real life: this shot was taken in 2005 at the Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany.

- How come the links to your email aren't clickable on this page? Sorry. That's to prevent digger robots to harvest my address and spam mail to reach my mailbox. You have to type the address yourself in your mail client.

- Haven't I seen a similar webpage somewhere else? If you think so, you very probably have. In fact, I borrowed the layout from Cedrick 'Nitch' Collomb's Unlocker web page. I haven't asked him. I hope he'll forgive me considering that confessing it is as if I was making a backlink to his page. Anyway check out his website, he has really cool software. And yes, it's a honest review.

I will add links to articles and reviews about this software as soon as some are published. If you intend to write one, please tell me about it, so that I can add the link and your website logo here.