User Reviews (31 - 41 of 79)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Will Help one Understand the Game. It's helped Me.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: October 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

"Learn to Play Chess with Fritz and Chesster" will help you understand how the game of Chess is played. I have never played Chess before in my life and i now understand it. What got me motivated to buy this Cd rom was the positive reviews that some caring parents put on here. Don't let the bad reviews discourage you. This is great stuff. The story is great, and funny and the constant repetition of the rules,etc., will help you understand how the game is played. The price is worth it, and i recommend this to all young kids, teens, and adults who wanted to give Chess a try but for some reason just did not have the time to pick it up, etc. The way everything is explained is approachable, direct and positive. Your child/teen/or adult spouse will learn how to play. In the game, one will play against a Mouse who is A Chess Master.
The CdRom works with Windows XP.

This is what it states on the box, and it says the following:" This is children's software at its best-fun, creative, and instructive"(USA Today, Rated 5/5).

This is Rated "E" this is for Everyone.

Great product, but...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: October 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Great product. I'm learning how to play chess for the first time, as well as my 7 year old son... However, tech support is not the best - my program gets an error message during the IntelliGym, and can't move forward. I contacted the tech people via e-mail, but it took them nearly two weeks to get back to me. Suggested solution didn't work, and haven't heard back from them yet. Hopefully, you won't have any tech problems, then you'd love the product, I'm sure.
(I think my problem might be my OS, which is W2000 - even though the product discription in Amazon states it works with W2000, the CD I have says 95, 98, ME, XP. So W2000 uesrs be aware...)

Great introduction for Kids

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

We purchased this for my 6 year old son and 7 year old daughter since both children have been asking me to help teach them how to play chess the last several months. While I have been able to get them started, I find that approach used in this software to introduce the game pieces and concepts has allowed their understanding of the game to grow.

Both kids enjoy using this software and, if I would let them, would spend hours at a time using the software.

My biggest issue with the software is the sound and animation. We continually have issues with the sound/animation not being in sync or the audio cutting in and out. We run this on a computer with plenty of processing power, memory, disk space, etc. It does not bother this kids too much, but I find it annoying.

All in all, a great tool to help my children learn the game.

Excellent!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: February 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a great chess game. It comes with an animated tutorial and various games that teach young children how to move the chess pieces and also discusses beginning chess strategy. This is my second copy of the game the first one got scratch and I could no longer use it. In fact, the only bad thing I would say about the game is that it doesn't completely install on your computer. In order to play the game you have to insert the disc in your computer.

Great Program that could use an update

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I purchased this program about three months ago because my children had expressed an interest in learning how to play chess. Since then my two older children (9 and 7) have completed the program from start to finish. (Although I already knew how to play chess, I also played the game from beginning to end as I do with all software that enters our home.)

The program introduces chess in a stepwise fashion within the framework of a story involving protagonists (Fritz, Chesster, and Bianca) and their rival the King Black. At each stage, learning is reinforced with a series of rewards and intermediate goals. These rewards keep children enthusiastic and motivated through what can be a very lengthy learning process.

The game starts by using a series of games to introduce the movement of the pieces. The heart of the game, however, is a series of training activities that reinforce different tactics and ideas in chess. The activities are challenging for beginners without being frustratingly difficult. My children were, for the most part, able to use the program independently, although in one or two places I had to sit and coach my 7-year-old. The 9-year-old completed the entire program in about 2 days, and my younger child took about a week. Even when completed, the program is not useless. The game serves as a chess program with levels of play ranging from very easy, to extremely hard. At the highest level, I suspect Chesster would beat the pants off even some of the most experienced players. If your child has more than a rudimentary understanding of chess, however, you probably would be best purchasing the second in this series instead.

Referring to previous reviews, I am uncertain why other users found the program confusing and difficult to use. Yes, it is true that there is no manual included with the program, but I did not need one. I found the program to be intuitive, and even my three-year-old can load and play the program without assistance.

As mentioned in other reviews, the graphics ARE simple. But, my children found the story engaging, and were amused by the characters. I found the interface to be clean, attractive, and appropriate for the purpose. The animation is storybook in style, and is simple enough so that the program is not a CPU-eating monster like some other graphics-heavy versions of chess.

A few users mentioned that they disliked the chess pieces being represented as cartoon characters. I believe they are unaware that you can toggle between "regular" pieces and the character pieces at any point during the game. My son prefers to use the game with the standard pieces, and my daughter likes the cartoons. This has not stopped either of them from understanding what the "regular" pieces look like.

There are a few drawbacks. The game starts by introducing the movement of the pieces with a series of strange arcade games. My children didn't really seem to connect these games to the movement of the pieces. (What does smashing toilets have to do with moving a bishop anyway??) I also found some of the dialog between the characters to be bordering on offensive, and some of the jokes to be inappropriate for the age level (for example, referring to a group of Queens as a harem). Bianca asks far too many idiotic questions, and giggles way too much for my taste. She also says things like "This is so overwhelimg" in a tone of voice that reminds me of the brainless barbie dolls of years past. (Although some may not see this as sexist, I wonder why the male character doesn't do much giggling??) Still, these are minor annoyances.

Overall, I think this is a superb way to introduce children to the game of chess. Both my older children learned in a week or less, and are anxious to learn more. What else could you ask for in an educational program?

learn chess the easy way.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: July 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

obtaining this item was the best thing that happened in my life when it came to learning this complex sport. if it weren't for this disc i probably would have missed out on alot. once you get the hang of it, you will like it alot. the way everything is taught will make you smile, yes, it is that positive.

Lennox Lewis-Former Boxer World Champion Plays Chess

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: November 23, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Learn the game of chess by using this simple to use chess program. Everything is fun and direct in its explanation.
In a couple of days you will know the pieces and how they are utilized on the board. Second, Lennox Lewis, former World boxing Champion is a chess player himself. This is the easiest way to learn this classic thinking game. You can't go wrong. Don't listen to the negative reviews on this board....anyone can learn how to play Chess. Learn to play Chess with Fritz and Chesster is worth it: Five stars

Don't buy this sexist game

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 14 / 35
Date: January 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The game is called Fritz and Chesster. Fritz is the boy. Chester is a rat. That girl you see in the picture, her name is Bianca. She never actually plays. She just says things like "Well done, brave knight!" and asks stupid questions. At one point poor Bianca points out that the queen is the strongest piece, and Fritz makes a comment about his mother chewing out his father. The tone and context are extremely anti-woman, in my opinion. He also counters by saying that boys are smarter.

It seems like the makers of this game were really threatened by the fact that you have to call the most powerful piece "she". To take the queen down a notch, they refer to a group or queens as a harem. To demonstrate how this powerful piece moves they have the queen run around picking flowers as fast as she can. A male voice says, "Off you go," in a tone which one can only assume is meant to accompany a little pat on her behind.

Great Family Fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: December 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Thanks to this program my 6 year old son is well on his way to becoming a decent chess player. He expressed interest in chess after watching the first Harry Potter but lacked (aged 4 and 5 at the time) the patience to learn the proper moves. This game does just that with a variety of mini-games which teach those moves while while retaining his interest. The skills taught in this game have easily transferred to the board game which has become a family favorite. He is now the proud owner of his very own chess set (one of his Christmas list wishes). We will be purchasing the second one shortly.

Buy this NOW!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: February 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This software ROCKS! My 7 year-old son LOVES it! It's taught him a lot about chess and helped get (and keep) him interested in the game. Highly recommended!

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next 

Actions