User Reviews (31 - 41 of 51)

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Previous Versions Excellent, But...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: September 18, 2001
Author: Amazon User

...this program needs to be updated to support Windows 2000! I like the Chessmaster series very much, but am unable to play my two previous versions on my exclusively Win2K systems.
C'mon Chessmaster, pull your finger out!

Outstanding, Fun, Easy to use

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: November 21, 2001
Author: Amazon User

As an avid chessplayer I've truely enjoyed this program. I feel its the best of its kind. It's extremely easy to use. It's wonderful to learn from no matter what level your chess game is at. It has special sections for children and to teach those wh have never played chess before. It also offers levels to challenge those who are at master strength. It's more than just playing computer chess. You play against personalities of different levels and playing strengths. It also enables you to use this program to play live games online. The graphics are wonderful.

Excellent

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This chess software is superb. Josh Watzkin walking you through some of his classic chess encounters is one of my favorite parts of this game. You actually begin to understand what it takes to play chess at an elevated level. One part of this chess program I did have a problem with was playing computer players. Each computer player is rated and they play exactly at that level. What the computer cannot do, unlike a human can is make bad moves. The computer playing at a 1550 rated level plays it perfectly, unlike a player at rated at the 1550 level. A player at rated at the 1550 level may make a few moves at an 1800 level and then make a terrible move that a 1200 level rated player wouldn't even make. Humans make mistakes, whereas the Chessmaster does not. Except for this and the occasional crash (I am running the game on win2000, which is not a gaming platform) this game is excellent. I would buy it again if I didn't already own it.

Stick with Chessmaster 7000

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 12 / 21
Date: December 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Stick with Chessmaster 7000 at least it will run 90% of the time.

I have 7000 and at least I can play games with it.

Just bought Chessmaster 8000 and out of 4 games on the 4 or fifth move my computer locked up each time (4 times). I can't get it to play a complete game.

I had no problem going through the classrooms. But, that is not what I bought 8000 for I thought it would be better than 7000.

NO WAY!!!!!

Chessmaster 8000 and XP

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: May 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Chessmaster 8000 is even more fun than the 5000 version. I especially like playing against simulated, rated opponents. In addition, I had no problem installing it with Windows XP. If you do have such problems, you can always run it under "compatibility mode", which means that XP will simulate Windows 95, 98, and so on.

Stay with Chessmaster 7000 and save your money

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: May 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

One of the appeals to Chessmaster used to be the "auto-annotation" mode so a player could enter a game and Chessmaster would analyze move by move and offer better moves. This feature made Chessmaster worthwhile.

Then came 8000. This feature is gone. Chessmaster will analyze the game but you can not print it out. Bummer!!!!

While the tutorials are nice, they are not that much better than the 7000 so why spend the extra money.

Of course, there are the problems with more advanced Windows operating systems and now why buy this product at all. If you are a parent trying to teach your children to play, look for Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess. A far superior product.

Very good Tool, but needs improvements to work with W2k

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 24, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Ok, it's not normal to have a computer configured as a Windows 2000 Server, and to install Chessmaster there.
I have read that on the manufacturer of the software side, there are no possibilities to support Windows 2000, nor XP. But on the other side, there are reviews here telling it works under Windows 2000.
I buyed it.
But then, I installed the software on my home-work computer, where I work and that I also use on my free time. But my kind of job makes it necessary to work with Windows 2000 Server.
It was frustrating to see that it doesn't work there, after having installed it. I tried then downloading the last version of DirectX, then by installing it told me, DirectX had to be installed, in order to work with. But it didn't work. I get the message "A fatal error ocurred initializing Sound playback. The program will now terminate.", and it terminates...
I installed then it on other partition on the same computer, that I had only for test purposes, but that works with Win 98. There it works very fine. Good, I don't like to insert the CDs each time I want to play, but maybe it's some kind of protection from the manufacturer side. It's not nice.
But on the other side, going to the game, it's very nice. I'm learning a lot with it, and having fun. Find very good to play against personalities with different levels.
It would be nice having the game in other languages (my mother language is spanish), but for me is also good so.
I find Chessmaster has a very high level in general, and knew it from version CM2000. I know other chess products, and they have a very low level, or no level, compared with Chessmaster.
I hope, better I'm sure, my chess level will grow a lot now.

Chess Master and Windows XP

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: July 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I saw all the reviews that said this product will not work on XP. I decided to buy it and try anyway, being in IT, figuring I could make it work. I did get it successfully running on Windows XP. What I did was install windows 98 first, then upgraded to Windows XP. I installed right out of the box and the game came up and worked for me with no issues. It is installed on a toshiba laptop with a 266 processor. Its an excellent game and very user friendly. I know I'm going to enjoy this, as will my daughter. If you have had trouble with this on XP, or you want to give it a shot, I recommend trying what I did. 98 first, then upgrade to XP. It works like a dream

Exceeded my expectations

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: May 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I didn't know what to expect when I bought this program. Just another Chess software I thought. But Josh Waitzkin's 12 games at "Classroom Curriculum" have made all the difference for me. He is a very good chess player and a great narrator. I return to his 12 annotated games again and again for his lessons on chess strategy, psychological insight and sense of humor. Excellent program, I wish only there were more than 12 annotated games! No pressure, Josh!

XP compatible, Won't be dissappointed

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

If you have a lot of hard drive space and lots of RAM, do the full install(about 900 MB total), you'll love it.

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