Depends what you mean by 'best'.
fritz 8 has a very good game analysis feature.
most commercial chess programs are insanely strong and would beat everyone who plays here with no problems.
if you are a rank beginner at chess then i would recommend majestic chess by sierra as it has a unique role playing adventure feature that will teach you basic tactics and strategy without confusing chess terminology.
i enjoy playing the virtual oponnents in chessmaster 9000, it's fun trying to work your way up the ladder (though the chessmaster himself is rated at over 2800 so i won't be meeting him soon).😏
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Originally posted by martinbeaverIf you just want to learn chess theory, I thought that the program "Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess" was well done. It is available from amazon.com here
Depends what you mean by 'best'.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000059P7G/qid=1068487899/sr=8-4/ref=sr_8_4/002-3469511-9977609?v=glance&s=videogames&n=507846
or from USCF here
http://www.shopuschess.org/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/scstore/p-W390.html?L+scstore+kypc4242+1068502414
Goes from beginning to fairly advanced topics like weak squares.
I had no trouble getting it to work under Windows XP, but if you do send me a message. There are procedures within XP that will make it behave like older operating systems.