I did the search but I only notice Chess Club stuff and that’s not what my friend and I want.
Can anybody direct me to a chess game that we can both, even if we need to buy 2 copies and play much like on messenger - just 1:1 without 1,000’s of other members? We just want some 1:1games. I looked online but everything seems to require signups with attendant crap. Just a simple 1:1 game. Sorry if I missed something on search but a game club is not what we want to attend.
Well, 2Enigma, there are at least a couple of puzzles in your request, if I understand it correctly, so let me check on that first:
You want software that allows you to play with a partner through the internet, and both you and your chosen partner will likely be at a home computer not in the same location (or city). You only want to play chess with that particular partner and no one else, and you do not want anybody else bothering you or watching you play.
Is that correct? So first of all, I would encourage you to play face-to-face games whenever possible. And also play against a variety of players as much as you can, particularly those stronger than you. I can understand not wanting to be messaged or otherwise interrupted while playing, but it starts to get a bit harder to comprehend why you don’t want anyone to observe. Most people are busy playing their own games or watching high-rated players - so maybe you are a shy master!
Anyway, my main recommendation is to get over it all and just join the Internet Chess Club, which is just the best one there is online in my opinion. Besides 24-hour availability of both human and computer opponents of varying strengths, they have plenty of free instructional videos, international masters and grandmasters playing that you can watch (they don’t seem to mind!), and even lessons from chess teachers available in different languages - teachers have their bios and prices listed. The ICC chess store also has lots of chess sets and software you can get, and they deliver to Taiwan. Your only other EASY source would be Amazon.com.
Now in terms of software, I have Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition, which I see is no longer offered at Amazon. I see the Chessmaster 10th Edition available for just under USD18, but this is meant for one player to use on his or her home computer. I will say, briefly, that is is wonderful, not only because it looks beautiful on your screen, but really teaches you in the training mode if you ask it for suggestions. Plus when you play either in training or ranked play mode, you choose computer opponents with personalities that have a gender, age, and description of style of play. Sometimes they throw in a famous old player at the higher levels if you want to feel the ire of a Capablanca or Nimzo! OK - the other one most people get is called Fritz and that is for chess analysis, and I’m not going to say anything about it because it’s way off base for both of us. Simply put, what you ask for does not exist as far as I know.
You probably could, however, both join the ICC, which costs just under USD70 per year per person (unless you are a student, I think) and then you could learn whatever command there is to block out messages from others while you are playing. I am pretty sure they can also have it so no one observes you, but I am not too sure about that - it would seem easy enough to arrange. I guess you don’t mind if there are other players there, as long as they are basically blocked, correct? And then you would be able to watch others, get the instructional videos, play unranked games or speed games that don’t matter much, etc. Lots of stuff going on there, but if you really want to improve, short of being in a place where there are a lot of live players you like playing against that’s where I’d recommend you go.