If you're a chess enthusiast, you probably already play other people online, but there's always room for some local practice matches. Talking about Arasan is a bit strange, since it has been with us for twenty-six years among us. But if you've never heard of it before, you should know that its opening book contains more than half a million moves.
I am very bad at playing chess. Truly bad, to be honest. I never had the patience or mental depth, and I always thought that if pawns had machine guns, history would be very different (?!), but rules are rules. Chess stopped being a classic form of entertainment and became a very complex evaluation method, especially among artificial intelligences.
However, chess becomes much more attractive when it involves the human factor. After all, artificial intelligences don't have headaches, don't suffer from jet lag, don't get an upset stomach, nor do they get happy when you accept their marriage proposal. For the human player, chess is dedication and training, and if you're interested in that second point, you should take a look at Arasan.
Arasan: The Chess Player's Best Friend
If memory serves, Arasan predates even Windows 95, and had a version compatible with Windows 3.1 (Editor's note: Version 1.0 is from March 1994). Arasan's interface has always been basic, though sufficient to play a game, but if the player wishes, the engine can be moved to more modern interfaces like Arena Chess, XBoard or WinBoard. Its opening book contains more than half a million moves. A professional chess player might think that the number of moves is irrelevant, and the most important thing is how well you use them, but it's still not a minor detail.
If you need to adjust Arasan's difficulty, you'll see that there are several options, including limits for the depth of its analysis, a general strength parameter, and time restrictions. As could not be otherwise, Arasan swept the floor with me. It was something like Popeye after eating spinach, but without a doubt it's worth downloading a copy. Arasan received an update in December 2019, so it remains as relevant as on its first day. Moreover, fortunately, it continues to be free and unrestricted.
https://old.neoteo.com/jugar-ajedrez-lichess/
