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chessmaster 10th edition
Chessmaster 10th Edition
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List Price: $19.99
Our Price: $14.95
Your Save: $ 5.04 ( 25% )
Availability: N/A
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Amazon Maximum Age: 20
Amazon Minimum Age: 60
Binding: CD-ROM
Brand: UBI Soft
EAN: 9780439799690
ESRB Age Rating: Everyone
Feature: Chess teacher, mentor, and ultimate opponent with intuitive user interface
Is Autographed: 0
ISBN: 0439799694
Is Memorabilia: 0
Label: Ubisoft
Manufacturer: Ubisoft
Platform: Windows XP
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: 2004-08-10
Studio: Ubisoft
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Features
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Chess teacher, mentor, and ultimate opponent with intuitive user interface
Chessmaster Academy teaches the basics, plus a variety of simple strategies
Animated chess sets; whimsical 3D sets; simple and efficient learning tools
Full-featured online chess module; comprehensive chess engine
Intermediate and advanced player options; for ages 6 and older
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Editorial Reviews:
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ChessMaster 10th Edition is designed to improve your game, regardless of your level of experience. All-new feature upgrades and updated graphics make this a must-have for those who'd like to learn or master chess.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Not completely compatible with Vista
Comment: Overall rating should be 4 stars, but beware of the Jewel Box game which will not run on Windows XP.
The real question for most chess players looking for some chess software is whether to buy Chessmaster or Fritz (or Fritz's Shredder). I have used both for many years. I actually go back to the days of Chessmaster 2100, which had the playing strength of perhaps a subclass F player, if such a player existed.
For the average player the conventional wisdom has always been that Chessmaster is better because it has more training features and is more user friendly, both in terms of "fun" kinds of chess activities and in terms of how intuitive the software is to navigate. Fritz clearly has been the choice of professionals, partly because it will run without the disc in the drive (although earlier versions of Chessmaster did run without the disc in the drive), partly because Fritz's architecture is considered more elegant, partly because Fritz has a much bigger database of games, and finally because Fritz's chess engine is stronger.
Chessmaster's "personalities" (with ratings) that you can play against have always been one of its most popular features. Chessmaster 10 has the same personalities, from grandmaster-like virtuals to everyday kind of people (complete with mug shots) playing at easy to beat levels, that it has had in previous editions. The problem with these personalities--or maybe this is their main virtue--is they are not as strong as the ratings that Chessmaster gives them. A 2100 Chessmaster personality actually plays like a low B player, while on Fritz it is the other way around, with their 1800 players playing like experts or in some positions like masters. Psychologically speaking, I think Chessmaster has the right approach. For someone preparing for their first tournament against rated players, however, just playing against Chessmaster's personalities can be like living in lollypop land. Still, these personalities have some real value as training devices. Some of them (with ratings between say, 1900 and 2150) function like this: they give away material, even as much as a piece for two pawns and then play a very strong game that can test the user's ability to "win a won game." Stronger personalities will lose a tempo or make an antipositional move or two that can, with careful play, be exploited.
One of the personalities is "Josh age 12, Attacker, loves endgame, weaker positionally." This would be IM Josh Waitzkin as a preteen, complete with actual photo of him then. I played against this personality a few times and "he" can make some strange moves and still manage to have a good game, and you need to watch out for traps. "He" can also stir up an attack out of seemingly nowhere. But his endgame is not very good. The real Josh Waitzkin at age 12 would have no trouble beating this personality in a match.
Chessmaster 10 does not automatically save your game, as Fritz does, and I must repeat, you have to have the DVD in the drive to play the game. Both of these "unfeatures" are annoying. Additionally, Chessmaster 10, despite offering three patches at its Web Site, is still in not completely compatible with Windows Vista--at least not on my computer. The line at the bottom of the page that gives the opening is so narrow so that the words and numbers don't quite fit. The same problem exists with the text in some of the windows. The program crashes on occasion for no apparent reason. And there are a number of little bugs, such as once I set up the 2D chess set, I couldn't get back to a screen that will allow me to change to a 3D set.
Still, the program is very much worthwhile, especially for those of you who remember Zarkov and Chessmaster 3000, etc. Today's Chessmaster engine is easily strong enough for all but the very best players in the world. Chessmaster 10 will analyze your games to any degree you like (and alas find all the errors you made that you didn't think you made), and unlike Fritz it makes it easy to either load your game or to record the game using the human vs. human playing set up. (Go to "Game set up" and click on both human avatars.)
Like Fritz, Chessmaster has an Internet play feature that I haven't used.
So--which is better, Chessmaster or Fritz? You know the answer--it depends! Personally I like them both for different reasons. But if I had to choose just one, I would choose Fritz because (1) the huge database, and (2) to say it for the third time: you don't have to have the DVD in the drive to play. For the less than master level player Chessmaster may be the better choice because the software is easier to navigate and more intuitive. Chessmaster 10 is also cheaper than Fritz Chess (which is the same as Fritz 10).
But should you upgrade if you already own a previous version of Chessmaster? Alas, probably yes, since earlier versions (or at least the Chessmaster 8 that I have) are not compatible with Vista at all. Even so, I am disappointed that Chessmaster 10 is virtually the same program as far as features go as Chessmaster 8. It feels like a dying program that has been abandoned by its creators. Too bad. At one time it was the best.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Chessmaster 10th Edition
Comment: This is a very fun game; I bought it for my 8 year old son and 6 year old daughter. They enjoy it very much. Their interest in chess and USCF rating are dramatically increased.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Errors even a 1300 can see
Comment: Our "instructor" Josh Waitzkin shows us the following position in his "Chess Mastery" Quiz:
8/8/8/7k/R7/8/2K5/1R6 w - -
The text reads: Here white has a mate in four. What's the first move?
The problem is... this is a mate in two! Silly IM. I even saw this and I suck at chess.
1. Rg1 Kh6 (forced)
2. Rh4#
I believe he's trying to make this a problem geared for someone who's never mated with two rooks, but the problems should still be accurate. All he had to do was put the white king on c1. This would interfere with the rook's access to g1. That would be a real mate in four problem.
The VERY NEXT program gives this position:
K7/8/1R6/6k1/8/8/8/5R2 b - -
Waitkin calls it a "mate in five". It's a mate in four.
There's a few different ways to mate in four from this position. Here's one:
1. Rf1 Kg4
2. Rg6+ Kh5
3. Rg8 Kh4
4. Rh1#
Finally, on his second "monster knight" skill building exercise (page 38 of 82) he gives this position:
3K4/bq6/2r5/kb1p4/1p1n3n/2p1pn2/p3p1p1/6N1 w - -
The only difference is I put a White King on d8 so it would load into normal chess programs. I saw the sequence: e2, c3, a2, b4, d5, e3, g2, h4, f3, d4, b5, a7, c6, d8, b7, a5, which picks up all the dark pieces. After playing c3, Josh says "No, that's not quite it.". Sorry Josh, it is. Strike three.
It's kind of hard to rely on anything this guy says after such elementary errors. I do remember some of the other Waitzkin lessons being decent tho, but I'm really not in a good position to judge them, except for the obvious errors outlined above.
Personally I MUCH prefer "Deep Shredder" http://www.shredderchess.com/ (I have Version 10, but Version 11 is available now). The nice thing about this program is that you can turn down its ELO rating and it plays pretty much like a person would at that rating. You can do this with Chessmaster 10th also, I just like the game you get with Shredder better.
Finally, if I hear "Don't move until you see it" just one more time....
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great program w/ small annoyances
Comment: This is a great program on so many levels. It's a very strong chess-playing engine (w/ many interesting personalities), plus some terrific analysis that you can do. Altho' I don't play too often against the program itself, I LOVE the analysis feature for games I have played over the board. It recommends stronger moves I cd've played and suggests the next 7 strongest moves in the continuation. There are also some excellent tutorials included by top-notch chess players and targeted to diff. levels of players, so they don't all go over the head of a beginning player. (Occasionally there are errors in these, but rarely.)
It's annoying that you can't play w/o having the CD-ROM in the disk drive and I could do w/o all the weird board and piece combos. Also counterintuitive is adding a new player (e.g., the name of a friend whom you just played w/). It's MUCH harder than in CM9, for some reason.
I love watching two diff. personalities play games against each other and then replaying them later w/ diff. variations. Like what wd a Ruy Lopez game between 2 excellent players look like? Ok, now what wd happen if Black had chosen Nc3 on move 5? Comparing these games is instructive. It's an amazing chess learning tool at a great price.
Customer Rating:
Summary: chess buyer
Comment: easy, smart, good to use from me up to my brothers. It is cheap too. Something bad: Always one CD needed to run.
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