Thanks for the pointer! I found a good description of UCI here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Chess_Interface
(I thought it had something to do with Univ. Cal. Irvine :-)

In short, is this what I'll have to install?
First install either a UCI interface Arena or install Winboard
Then install one of the free chess programs from here
http://wbec-ridderkerk.nl/html/lastupdates.htm

Is this how most chess programs are designed today by using either UCI or
Winboard?

wrote in message
...
On May 13, 1:50 pm, "fa03e" wrote:
Thank you for the info! Do I have to join Winboard or UCI to use these
chess programs? Anything that can run as stand-alone on my own PC, so I
can
play against it without connecting somewhere to the internet?

Winboard and Arena (for UCI) are free programs that are standalone.

You can get Winboard he
http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/winboard/winboard-4_2_7b.exe

You can read all about Winboard from its original creator he
http://www.tim-mann.org/xboard.html

You can get Arena he
http://www.playwitharena.com/

Enjoy!

jm