Chess software comes in different forms. A chess playing program provides a graphical chessboard on which one can play a chess game against a computer. Such programs are available for personal computers, video game consoles, smartphones/tablet computers or mainframes/supercomputers. A chess engine generates moves, but is accessed via a command-line interface with no graphics. A dedicated chess computer has been purpose built solely to play chess. A graphical user interface (GUI) allows one to import and load an engine, and play against it. A chess database allows one to import, edit, and analyze a large archive of past games.
This list contains only chess engines for which Wikipedia articles exist yet and therefore is very incomplete. It does not reflect or imply current or historic play strength as this characteristic in itself usually does not warrant an entry on Wikipedia.
The following are special-purpose hardware/software combinations that are inextricably connected:
