Free Chess Software
On this page we will be hosting an archive of FREE Chess Software. This will include many of the HIARCS chess programs released over the last 20 years. These older software products are still the copyright of Applied Computer Concepts Ltd. and All rights are reserved.
We ask that no one else hosts these software downloads. We hope to make many of the HIARCS chess products sold over the last 20 years available to everyone for free. This will require many hours of work to resurrect each product so it can be made available. If we find others are hosting these downloads we will cease this activity and many of the more recent HIARCS chess programs and engines will not be made available.
We would be grateful if you could provide a link to our site by copying and pasting the link and description below onto your appropriate web page.
<a href="http://www.hiarcs.com">HIARCS Chess Software for PC, Mac and iPhone</a><br>World class computer chess software programs with superb features for beginners and Grandmasters alike.
This html code should then produce the following link:
HIARCS Chess Software for PC, Mac and iPhoneWorld class computer chess software programs with superb features for beginners and Grandmasters alike.
Links to our website promote HIARCS and in turn help us provide better and cheaper products in the future.
By downloading and installing any software item on this page you are agreeing to be bound by the terms and conditions of the license agreement which accompanies each HIARCS download. You can read the license agreement here.
- HIARCS 0.3 from 1981 resurrected!
Following our recent resurrect HIARCS challenge, Alain ZANCHETTA successfully ported the 1981 version and now we are able to enhance it so you can download and run it for yourself - requires Microsoft .NET2 framework installed. Please unzip and run the setup installer.
Download 1981 HIARCS 0.3 here - HIARCS 0.5 from 1983 resurrected!
Following our recent resurrect HIARCS challenge, Alain ZANCHETTA successfully ported the 1983 version and now we are able to enhance it so you can download and run it for yourself - requires Microsoft .NET2 framework installed. Please unzip and run the setup installer.
Download 1983 HIARCS 0.5 here - HIARCS 1
This was the first commercial release of the HIARCS series of chess products. It followed a number of years of development and playing in many computer-computer tournaments. This version was an evolution of the chess program that won the title of World Amateur Microcomputer Chess Champion which was achieved at the World Microcomputer Chess Championships in Vancouver, Canada in 1991. It also competed with relative success in the 1992 World Computer Chess Championship in Madrid and was still in with a chance of finishing 2nd overall until the last round. It also achieved a Gold medal in the 1992 World Computer Chess Olympiad in London. The internal version number at the time in Vancouver was 6.72, but the numbering scheme was reset to 1 when the first commercial release occurred. The version included in the download link below is a hybrid version of HIARCS 1 with mouse support. Please unzip the download into the HIARCS1.0+1992 folder and double click the "HIARCS.EXE" application file to run it. This product has been unprotected so you can use it for free under the terms of the license agreement which is included in the zip archive as "license.txt".
Download 1991 HIARCS 1.0+ PC/Windows/Dos release here