user33337: I downloaded stockfish 15 ,the POPCNT version. It downloaded, but I don't know how to open it to play chess. Can you help me?

user12873: It's much easier to play Stockfish with the use of a GUI, but it's possible to manually use the stockfish executable via the command line if you want.

Go to the folder where you've installed stockfish.
Open a terminal (e.g., on windows it could be powershell), and run stockfish with "./" followed by the name of the stockfish executable (no spaces). E.g., "./stockfish", if you had renamed your executable to "stockfish".

There are now a number of commands you can use. For a list of them and some explanations, go to https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish, and then go to the section called "The UCI protocol and available options". There you'll be able to download the UCI protocol text file.
The main commands you'll probably want are the ones starting with "go depth ...", "position ...", and "d". The "go depth ..." gets Stockfish to go to a certain depth and return what it believes to be the best move. The "position ..." commands let you set a new position, which you can do when getting what Stockfish wants to move, or what you want to move. Finally, "d" displays a visual of the position to you.

user4418: Stockfish is not a chess program. It is a chess engine. It works together with a chess GUI, some of which cost money, like Fritz or Shredder, some of which are free, like Scid vs PC or Arena.

33337: <p>I downloaded stockfish 15 ,the POPCNT version. It downloaded, but I don't know how to open it to play chess. Can you help me?</p>
 12873: <p>It's much easier to play Stockfish with the use of a GUI, but it's possible to manually use the stockfish executable via the command line if you want.</p>
<ol>
<li>Go to the folder where you've installed stockfish.</li>
<li>Open a terminal (e.g., on windows it could be powershell), and run stockfish with &quot;./&quot; followed by the name of the stockfish executable (no spaces). E.g., &quot;./stockfish&quot;, if you had renamed your executable to &quot;stockfish&quot;.</li>
</ol>
<p>There are now a number of commands you can use. For a list of them and some explanations, go to <a href="https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish</a>, and then go to the section called &quot;The UCI protocol and available options&quot;. There you'll be able to download the UCI protocol text file.</p>
<p>The main commands you'll probably want are the ones starting with &quot;go depth ...&quot;, &quot;position ...&quot;, and &quot;d&quot;. The &quot;go depth ...&quot; gets Stockfish to go to a certain depth and return what it believes to be the best move. The &quot;position ...&quot; commands let you set a new position, which you can do when getting what Stockfish wants to move, or what you want to move. Finally, &quot;d&quot; displays a visual of the position to you.</p>
 4418: <p>Stockfish is not a chess <em>program</em>. It is a chess <em>engine</em>. It works together with a chess GUI, some of which cost money, like Fritz or Shredder, some of which are free, like <a href="http://scidvspc.sourceforge.net/" rel="noreferrer">Scid vs PC</a> or <a href="http://www.playwitharena.de/" rel="noreferrer">Arena</a>.</p>
