What do I do with my old score sheets?
Enter the games on the computer and do something with them, like find other games with the same opening, or get a computer to suggest better moves. In Windows XP, you can do all that for free using Fritz 5.32.
List of free software for Windows: http://freechess.50webs.com/index.html
List of software for Macs: http://www.sigmachess.com/_macchesslinks/macchesslinks.html
List of free software for Android phones: https://market.android.com/search?q=chess&c=apps&price=1&so=1
Long version:
Saving games onto a computer file
| WINDOWS | MAC | ANDROID | |
| FREE | j2chess, WinBoard, ChessDB | ChessPad | |
| COMMERCIAL | ChessBase, Fritz, ChessAssistant |
Health warning: I haven't got a Mac or an iPhone.
Play through saved games
| WINDOWS | MAC | ANDROID | |
| FREE | j2chess, WinBoard, ChessDB, ChessBase Light, CA7 Light | ||
| COMMERCIAL | Fritz, ChessBase, Chess Assistant |
Find databases of old chess games
| WINDOWS | MAC | ANDROID | |
| FREE | Pittsburg, TWIC |
||
| COMMERCIAL | ChessBase, Chess Assistant |
ChessDB will download files from TWIC for you, and most of them are in a single database at http://www.top-5000.nl/dl.htm?file=dl/Million%20Base%201.74.rar
Find similar positions
| WINDOWS | MAC | ANDROID | |
| FREE | ChessDB ChessBase Light CA7 Light | ||
| COMMERCIAL | ChessBase, Chess Assistant |
Have computer look over your shoulder while you go through a game
| WINDOWS | MAC | ANDROID | |
| FREE | Fritz 5.32, Stockfish*/Crafty*+WinBoard | HIARCS* |
Droidfish* |
| COMMERCIAL | Fritz, ChessBase, Chess Assistant |
* Chess-playing software comes in two parts, an 'engine' that does the thinking, and a 'front end' or GUI which allows you to see the moves on a board. Sometimes you can get one GUI to work with several engines. So, Stockfish is an engine, and Droidfish is a GUI that works with Stockfish, and you download the two together when you install it.
Have the computer analyze your game and make suggestions:
| WINDOWS | MAC | ANDROID | |
| FREE | Fritz 5.32 |
||
| COMMERCIAL | Fritz9/10/11etc |
P.S. I know about SCID and Rybka but there are some copyright and plagiarism issues with both programmes, as far as I understand it.
legacy nid:
899