For those of you who would love to play a good game of chess but don't know anyone who has the smarts to take you on, there's no need to fear. Thanks to computer technology, there are enough chess software programs to keep you more than challenged and even give you fits in the process.

Actually, chess software is not just limited to programs that allow you to play chess against the computer. There are programs that, in addition to that, allow you to plug in the moves for an already played game and do an analysis of that game. For some reason, as much as chess players love to play the game, they love to analyze it just as much.

One of the most popular chess software programs in the world is Fritz. This chess engine is so powerful that when grand masters play for the world championship, many chess enthusiasts will use the Fritz analysis engine to determine at every point in the match, who is actually ahead. The engine is so good that more often than not it is able to predict who will win the game after only a certain number of moves into the game.

Of course, you can also use Fritz to play against the computer engine itself. These engines are actually programmable, meaning that you can set them to whatever skill level you like, from beginner, all the way up to grand master. These engines, unlike the early days of computer chess when a great player would pummel one, are actually quite good today and can even beat some of the better players.

But Fritz doesn't end there. It also has an online tutorial that will teach you the game. It doesn't matter what level you're at either. You can start all the way at beginner level or if you are an advanced player, begin with some of the more complex lessons. Some versions of Fritz actually have audio lessons by some of the world's greatest grand masters like Gary Kasparov.

There is also chess software made, not for the purpose of playing the game but for cataloging games that have been played and annotating them. This is very popular for people who belong to online chess clubs and want to share their games with other members. Usually this is as simple as copying and pasting the game from the software right onto the site's message board itself.

There is also chess software that will allow you to import 3rd party chess engines into the software itself. This makes it so that you can have virtually an unlimited number of opponents to play against. These engines can be found online with instructions on how to import them into the various chess programs. Not every engine will work with every program, so it is important to read the instructions and the read me file before attempting to do this.

The number of software programs that are available can be overwhelming, so it is best to do some research and maybe even read some online reviews of each one before making your decision. The last thing you want to do is get a chess program that will let you play but won't let you annotate your games if that's what you're looking for.