8.3.2009

Chessmaster offers so much:First of all, it is very user friendly. Nothing is complicated about it and everything can be found easily. The logical beauty of the program resembles the logical beauty of the game of chess.There is so much you can do with the program, a lot I haven't even discovered yet. There is training mode, in which you can use the Chess Coach to give you hints and show you paths, tactics, threats and openings that you might have missed otherwise. You can also take back moves, which let's you realise your mistakes and gives you another chance to try other paths.There is ranked play, in which you can choose all different types of 3D chess boards and pieces,even 3D animated ones like the Fairytale, which is brilliantly done and which my kid loves. You can choose all different types of computer generated opponents and watch your rating go up, or down. Careful though, for there is no take back moves in this section. You can also choose different time settings, like hourglass, moves per minute, minutes per game, or Fischer style.There is also a section where you can manually set up different positions, which is good when studying with chess books or going over past games that you have completed.One of the most amazing things about this program is the wealth of knowledge that comes with it. In the Learn section you have grandmasters giving you essential knowledge of the game that will jump your rating up considerably. And there is a huge advantage of doing tutorials on the computer because certain paths, tactics, strategies, and more are highlighted far better than if you just had a book. I'm almost finished with the grandmaster Josh Waitzkin's Academy, and it is brilliant. So much knowledge and stated in a clear, philosophical way.Other features of the program are being able to play online, setting up tournaments, analysing your game with the program (which to me doesn't seem that helpful) and a Fun section where you can do chess puzzles and sorts.I have recently started playing a lot of chess960, which is a variant of chess, created by the former World Champion Bobby Fischer. Fischer's goal was to create a chess variant in which chess creativity and talent would be more important than memorization and analysis of opening moves. His approach was to create a randomized initial chess position, which would thus make memorizing chess opening move sequences useless. The initial position is set up in a special way and there are 960 such positions, thus the name 'Chess960'. This is a great contrast to orthodox chess, which only has 1 set up position, and is now usually referred to as chess1. Since the opening book for each possible opening position would be too difficult to devote to memory, each player must create every move originally. From the first move, both players have to come up with original strategies and cannot use well-known thinking patterns. Chess960 thus becomes a game more of tactics, strategy, and creativity rather than just memorisation.I recently joined the site [...] which lets you play chess960 against other people on the internet. The starting positions can be automatically set up by mychess.de or you can choose a number out of 960 and the set up will be created by mychess.de. Once you make a move, an email is sent to your opponent to tell him or her it's their turn, and vice versa. You can also play live over the internet, join tournaments or create your own. It' a great site and I recommend it to people who are interested in chess960. However you can also play chess1 or orthodox chess on the site too, and is a great site for that also.I hope Chessmaster one day introduces a way of playing chess960 in their program, or one of the other shuffle chess variations; maybe something that gets out of tradition and invents a better, more logical way of castling then chess960 has. I've invented my own actually: One player mixes his minor and major pieces together, along with his King, then without looking picks up a piece and sets it on the back rank of the first square starting from the left. This continues until all pieces and the King are in their positions. The only rule, like chess960, is that the Bishops have to be on opposite colours. However unlike chess960 the King does not have to be between the two rooks. So you can have a setup of a King on the H1 square and the two rooks to the left of the King. The King still has the power to castle with both rooks, and all the same castling rules apply. However, unlike the strange castling in chess960, in which wherever the rook and King is, the final resting positions after castling results to the position of how chess1 or orthodox chess castling position is; with my way, the King just moves two places to the right or left and the rook goes on the other side of the King. If the King can not move over two spaces, because of being to close to the edge of the board, then it just replaces the rook's position, the King thus only moving one position over. If when setting up the pieces and you lay a bishop down on the same colour as an already laid Bishop, just move the Bishop to the next square to the right, making it thus on a different colour. If the last piece you lay happens to be a Bishop and the last square would make the Bishops on the same colour, then just take the second to the last piece you put down and switch it with the Bishop. The ponds are set up like in chess1 and the other player sets up his pieces so that black and white have a symmetrical position, like chess960, which insures that there is no start up set advantages. Also, for egalitarian principles, white does not always go first, but a person takes one white piece and one black piece and puts them behind his back. The other player chooses a hand and what ever colour is chosen goes first. This chess variation creates even more random set positions then chess 960, making it even more interesting and with more possibilities in the opening, and throughout the whole game.Concerning Chessmaster - it really is a must buy and will develop your chess game tremendously, along with giving you many fine, entertaining days of chess play. I highly recommended it, and hope one day to see an updated Chessmaster with shuffle chess incorporated.

31.12.2009

This is a really excellent product. At its price and for what it does it is incredible value.Unless you are a seriously strong player with an ELO rating over 1800 (which is less than 5% of the chess playing world) then I would recommend this program over any other ones available such as Fritz or Shredder etc. Programs like Fritz and Shredder do have more powerful move analysis tools but a tiny proportion of the chess buying public will be able to use or understand the more advanced chess analyses features in Fritz or other top end programs which cost four times the price of this product. Likewise unless you are a Grandmaster you are not going to be able to beat the Chessmaster chess engine or

3.1.2011

Okay, firstly the bad things:1) It's buggy. There are lots of UI quirks that make it frustrating to use. Why does accuidently closing the analysis window mean you can never open it again, or indeed ever analyze that game again? Why does clicking off the window always stop a tutorial's audio so you have to restart that stage of the tutorial from the beginning? Why does the AI usually pause for 20 seconds before making it's first move? Grr...2) The AI struggles to simulate a non-grandmaster human player. An AI player on ELO 1300 ish will play an excellent game, but occassionally go "Whoops, just moved my bishop where you can take it!". Most games, unless you play a very strong opponent,

3.8.2009

Making up for lost time, I am trying to learn chess in middle age. This programme is both very cheap and a wonderful learning resource:Fork my fruit game - my 5 year old daughter enjoys playing this, & is learning the moves of the pieces.Tutorials - I havent used these much, but they seem comprehensive, from beginner to expert.Many ranked 'players' - find a computer opponent at your own level.Analyse function - learn chess from your own games, mistakes and brilliancies, rather than grandmaster X.Openings database - explore recommended responses to most openings, several moves deep.Games archive - I downloaded a game between Bobby Fischer and Victor Korchnoi, and ran the analyse function at maximum setting.

3.2.2010

Sure there are much more powerful chess-analysis software available (ChessBase's DEEP FRITZ comes to mind), yet they are either much more expensive or sport features only professionals (or at least truly advanced players) would know how to use.Not to be outdone at the gate, CHESSMASTER-11 features an exceptionally good teaching tool as well a human-simulation engine which is adaptable to various personalities and is now even multi-core and 64bit-compatible. For any chess-player ranked below 1400, this is the most recommended series.True, with the exception of some visuals and animated board options, this GrandMaster edition is not much different compared to CM-10. If one already owns CM-10,

24.9.2017

It's easily the best training tool available at an amazing price! I have fritz & Houdini, which are way more powerful and wipe the floor with grandmaster (I've played them against each other) but the the guy who designed this game says himself that it wasn't made to beat other programs or be the most powerful, it's designed as a training tool and there is nothing better on the market for its intended use! I won the (under 120) British chess championships in 2015 and used both 'chess grandmaster edition' and Houdini to help practise and I can confidently say that this programme has attributed to my win

1.11.2010

In reality, I am a very senior beginner. At first I didn't need to know about the pieces and how they move - but when I looked, I found that the details were awakening and switched-on, quite refreshing.The many openings are helpful, but I do enjoy the useful trainings that show mehow to think and understand, and look even further, while going into the battle of middle and end-game.I have recently joined the local Chess club and with the help from 'Chessmaster Grandmaster' I look forward to greater warfare.I am well pleased . Don. N.Wales

17.7.2009

The Chessmaster series of programs continues with this, the latest edition.Whilst I agree that there is not much difference between this and its predecessors, this is phenomenal value for money.Be warned though, unless you are an experienced player, do not even think of taking on the program without an advantage of some sort of handicap, it's strong enough to take on most professional players and win most of the time.

31.3.2010

I have never owned any previous versions of Chessmaster. If you are learning the game from scratch then this is excellent. I have gone through the tutorials and have learned in a easy to understand manner how to play chess and win at chess. As you go through the tutorials you are quizzed upon what you have learn in the previous section. This drills home what you have learned. All in all this is a great learning tool.

23.5.2012

This game is great, the tutorials are really good especially Josh's. I have learnt a lot from playing this game but beating Chessmaster still proves impossible. Fortunately, there are many different "personalities" to choose from and you can even create your own. This game is very customisable as you can change the UI skin and there are lots of 2D and 3D boards to choose from.

22.12.2010

This is basically the 10th edition rewritten with the nasty bugs removed, and so it seems to work without wrecking your PC and Windows. It still has the irritating and condescending female narration which can fortunately be turned off. Not a bad training program for about a fiver,but better are available at the same price or less. Arena download for example (free).

2.6.2010

I used to play chess at home with my dad,who was always too good,but if I`d had this dvd then I think Iwould have beaten him far more times than ever did.I found the instructions a little difficult to get the hang of,but that`sprobably due to the fact Ihave Parkinsons,but I persevered and I got there in the end.A brilliant game.ten star.bob

8.9.2009

The main idea is already in the title of the review.If you want to improve your chess skills, I would definitely recommend this game. I find games against the computer modest.However, online games are void of players.Overall, the game is very good. There are a lot of commented videos of chess games from which you can learn.

15.4.2009

This is a wonderful game for both novice and advanced players. Training mode and Josh Waitzkin's Academy are excellent. Also there are Ranked play where you can play with players with different skills to improve your ratings. there are tournaments and a lot more. Really worth a buy for everyone who likes Chess.

17.4.2018

I've always preferred the Chessmaster Series to the more lauded chess players, which are too clever by half. (certain versions weren't so good , admittedly) Suits me though , and it's versatile. This is the last in that series, but it still seems to be compatible with Windows 10.

Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition (PC) - Reviews

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