Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3624 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Focus Multimedia Ltd
• Released on: 2006-03-01
• Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows XP

PC Zone
"Chessmaster 10th Edition is a must buy."

Manufacturer's Description
Whether you are new to Chess or a tournament-level player, Chessmaster 10th Edition allows you to master history's greatest game. This landmark edition provides the largest upgrade ever to the features and graphics.

New, completely revised interface:

Customer Reviews

Major Problem...
I bought this software when I first started to play chess. It's good, it's very easy to use and has lots of help for people first starting out.

For example there are topics covering how the pieces move, simple tactics (forks, pins and skewers) and some opening and endgame theory. The amount of lessons you get for the price make this software a must for someone who wants to start out and if you are looking for sofware for children it is good for that too as the childrens corner is designed with children in mind (even the set's are quite funny to watch as they attack each other with magic and the like).

But there is a problem...
When you play against the computer it has various levels of strength from about 1 to about 3000. (This should pretty much cover most players!) This would be a great thing if they were realistic. I have found that while playing any opponent they will blunder. It seems that the computer will adjust its playing strength simply by blundering more or less often and more or less severly. Now this may seem like a good way of doing it, because in life the weaker the player the more often they blunder and the more significant the mistake but it doesn't seem to be very accurate. I have played reasonably strong opponents and it has played very strongly, as expected, and then make a huge, probably resignable, blunder. I think that it would be better in your development as a player, and more importantly your enjoyment of the game if the computer just played at a certain level. Yes blunders happen in games but people also win purely by outplaying their opponents, a feature which does not appear to happen in this software.

A few other things to note:
1. If you play friendlies and then rated games the strength of the opponent appears to change (they get stronger) again this may be more "human" but the amount of increase is quite significant I find.

2. If you blunder it appears to play much much stronger! I admit that if you blunder you are playing a worse position but I am convinced it plays significantly above its own level when you make a mistake. This may seem like a good thing, i.e. it will teach you not to make mistakes, but it also implies that if you blunder the game is over which in real life is not always the truth (in fact there are ways of playing after a blunder to catch your opponent out!).

So in summary:
The software is very good for beginners, it is easy to use and understand and has a lot of support material to back it up. If you are above about 70-80ECF or 1300 I would suggest you look elsewhere. I think you would notice the feature I have mentioned with the somewhat variable playing strength and may get frustrated with the software.

I have given Chessmaster 10th Edition 2/5 as the beginners tools are very good and I have not seen any software that matches up with this (Fritz is too strong and complicated for a complete novice in my opinion). I am afraid that I cannot give it any more because of the previously mentioned problems I have discovered.

chessmaster rocks
I learnt how to play chess years ago as a child but in recent years I haven't found opponents to play. This game is perfect for people who haven't played for years and are rusty and for complete beginners and those who play very well. You can choose to play at any level to suit yourself. The game has many, many personalities with differing levels from complete novice to world champions. The personalities of the great chess masters are included and Shakespeare, interestingly. The tutorials include voice overs from real Chess champions and have puzzles and exercises to solve. The tutorials greatly helped and improved my game, openings are explained, tactics and endgame. There's scope to play this game for years. I highly recommend it.

Great for kids who've got the chess bug
I run chess clubs at primary schools, and have seen numerous players progress on to County, National and even International standard.

One thing they all have in common is that they either play chess with someone at home ... or play on Chessmaster (or sometimes both). There's nothing more pleasing to my ears than a child saying something like "Oh, I've already done skewers on Chessmaster", when you introduce the concept to a group - then being able to do all the puzzles you give them as well! The teaching material in the 'learn' section is excellent and the puzzle positions are well thought out.

In contrast, the puzzles in the 'fun' section seem to be randomly generated and often unhelpful. In many cases the move it's looking for (e.g. when the objective is 'find a pin') isn't the best move as there's a free queen or a forced checkmate available. I would leave these well alone. (NB: These are the puzzles in the Fun->Puzzles menu option, not those incorporated into the Fun->Learn basics section, which are good.)

Another observation some have made is that it makes some very odd moves when you play against it on its lower levels (though, to be fair, the kinds of things a complete beginner making random moves might come up with). I think that this isn't a problem if the child is already picking up how to play good moves from the Chessmaster lessons or from knowledgable players at a well-run chess club, but it would be very difficult for a child to pick up how to play well from playing against the low levels on Chessmaster alone.

My tips would be to use the 2D->Expert chess set settings most of the time, and to play as much as possible with the good sections outlined above (i.e. playing using the 'Play' mode, doing the 'Learn' section and doing the Fun->Learn basics section). I like how it's self-directed, i.e. kids can choose what they want to do each particular time they play with it.