miniCHESS

As a chess game WindowMaker dockapp, miniCHESS was designed out of boredom but still has some cool features to offer. However, it may not be the best option for avid chess players who use xboard or other chess GUIs as it can be hard on the eyes. Despite this, miniCHESS is great for leisurely games that can go on for a couple of days.

One downside to miniCHESS is that it does not have save/restore features yet. Nonetheless, it comes with various options, including playing a text game (-t) and increasing the engine's randomness (-r). MiniCHESS also lets you adjust the engine's difficulty by implementing the "hard" option (-a), which makes the engine think on your time. The default option for this is "no." To change the depth of the engine's search, use the "-d" command followed by an integer. The default is 29.

Setting a maximum time (-t) per move and specifying a search depth (-d) means that the program will either stop after the specified time or depth, whichever comes first. However, be aware that Gnuchess, which miniCHESS uses, can be a CPU and memory hog, especially when the hard option is in use. Therefore, it is essential to specify the size of the transposition and cache tables to fit your system specifications.

MiniCHESS also lets you customize the chessboard's colors, including background and foreground colors. You can set background color for a checkmated king using "-k #color," black pieces using "-b #color," and dark squares using "-1 #color." Similarly, light squares can be customized using "-2 #color." Note that the white piece colors are the reverse of what is specified for the black pieces.

All in all, miniCHESS is a decent chess game with customizable features. However, if you're an avid player, other options may be more suitable, as miniCHESS may put unnecessary strain on your system.