User Reviews (1 - 11 of 16)

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Good for the weak but improving player

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought Chessmate through an Amazon associated seller for $6 and it was well worth the cost. I'm a weak player who wants to improve, and there are three reasons that this program is good for me and others like me, including kids playing chess for the first time.

1. As others have noted, the game "scales down" well-it produces weak opponents who play realistically: they use odd openings, make premature attacks, and miss tactical situations (like moving a pinned piece). They don't, however, move pieces to squares where they can immediately be taken and often do find good moves to extricate themselves from attacks. When I do make a mistake, I get punished for it.

2. The tournament feature encourages me to play games with a 30 move/60 minute time control, no hints, no pauses, and no takebacks. As noted by others, there are three levels of accomplishment and seven rounds within each level. To get through a level, one must beat all four of one's opponents in as many games as it takes to get through a level. The opponents in the levels get progressively stronger, so one soon reaches a level where the opponents are of equal strength to himself. I'm studying tactics and find that as I apply what I have learned, I'm getting stronger and can thus progress through the tournament. Of course, one can play opponents of any desired strength with or without various time controls, hints, takebacks, etc, outside of the tournament.

3. Games can be saved (but this is not automatic) in pgn files; these are specially formatted text files that can be annotated. What I do is pull up the pgn file in a text editor and review the game in Chessmate. As I review the game, I can annotate the pgn file; the new pgn file can again be reviewed within Chessmate at a later date. In addition, the pgn file could be imported into Fritz (or some other program) for analysis there.

The downside of the program is the chessboard itself. The 3-D view is useless because it is easy to miss a pawn that is hidden by a queen; this happened to me in a game and caused me to fluff a move. The 2-D views are quite unattactive but serviceable. In addition, the program is fairly inflexible in that it will only look for my games in one folder and I can't seem to change that.

In addition, the game is easy to use and seems very stable running under WinXP.

In short, Chessmate is very useful for a player like me. If you are already a strong player, I advise you to look elsewhere.

Also note--a demo version of Chessmate is available for download on the web. It goes dead after an hour but it can then be purchased for $20.

Not even worth a look

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: March 06, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Poor graphics, few features, limited playing styles, nothing to really recommend this title at all. Don't waste your time. Buy ChessMaster for $20 and forget this one exists.

not worth it

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: March 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I didn't care for the graphics in this game, even though I had high hopes for a game that would run both on my Palm tungsten E2 and my PC. But I find it distracting if I can't clearly make out the pieces or see the position on the board, and this failed in that area on both platforms. Luckily I didn't spend too much. I much prefer Fritz or Pawn on the PC, Chess Tiger on the Palm.

Good game with a stupid interface

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 29, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The game is quite enjoyable on the whole, though it is a little light on the special features. One very annoying "feature" of this software is when you try to synchronize a profile from the Palm to the PC. It is very unclear as to which is the source, and which is the target. Time and time again, the wrong profile gets synchronized. The idiots who designed the user interface need to learn how to see a software from the user's perspective.

Other than that, the game is quite enjoyable.

Kasparov Chessmate?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 61
Date: December 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I have never played Kasparov chessmate but after reading
the reviews dont think I will be purchasing it.
But if your really interested in learning chess and improving your game there is one I can recommend! CHESSMASTER9000
Great PC chess program! Too much to list!
Its money well spent!
I have improved my game and on my way to becoming a High rated player! The sky's the Limit! Before chessmaster I used other programs but nothing can compare to Chessmaster9000!
Just my opinion,...

MJA616

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: October 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Contrary to some reviews that did not favor this item, I found it to be very entertaining. Although it does not contain a function for analyzing games as do other more elaborate programs, I found it to be a very fun program to play against. Initially, in the championship phase of the game, the program can be beaten, but progresses in level of difficulty to an ELO rating comparable to that of "Tournament" strength or greater. It is a powerful program in terms of rating its play, and I am about to finish the "Silver" level and going to the "Gold" level, but the program is a tough opponent. Considering the price I paid (around $4.00), it is A VERY GOOD DEAL and WORTH EVERY PENNY! I'm not certain about this, but I am going to guess that at the Gold Level, its play will probably be comparable to an ELO rating of 2000. I haven't tried the training features yet, but I'm also certain those are going to be worthwhile. Hope this review helps.

Disappointing, even at its low low price

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 11
Date: October 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought this on a whim because it's so darn cheap, but man was i disappointed.

My problems aren't even with the chess play. They're with the total clumsiness of the way Kasparov checkmate looks and functions. Things are in odd places, there's no choice of size except full screen and too small, the 3D boards look completely pixellated in full screen mode, and, God, there's just so much more. When I start KC up, it makes my display freak out for a minute before appearing.

I really don't think this program should have been released. It needed AT LEAST six more months of tweaking before it was ready.

Oh yeah - AND the 'internet play' option works only when you enter another player's IP address. This is a HUGE pain for all of us without static IP addresses (about 90% of computer users, I'd guess). I thought I was going to be able to search out games online and meet people to play, but no such luck.

All that said, I still think the person who rated this game one star without ever playing it is a moron.

Get Serious

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 12 / 16
Date: November 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Garry must be desperate to allow his name to be attached to this product. There are half a dozen free programs that do what Chessmate does, several in the price range that are superior (e.g. Majestic Chess), and many that, for a bit more, can really play chess (Fritz 8; Rebel 12; Chessmaster 9000). These last 3 also have didactic funtions that are greatly superior to those of Chessmate. If you want to beat up a computer program, Fritz and company can be suitably lobotomized with a little fiddling; if you want to get serious about chess, Kasparov Chessmate is not the way to go.

Kasparov Chessmate - mmmeh, it's pretty good.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: February 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I'm rated about 1800 but recently got a performance of about 2200 at the Oceanic Zonal Championships at New Zealand. (Truth be told, I'm under 13!)

I don't see why other users hate this program so much, it has some "catching up" to do, I admit, but other than that, it is quite enjoyful.

And the graphics are nice as well. Fritz's interface seems a bit "ugly" for you to play proper "human v computer" chess and Chessmaster's seems "somewhat annoying".

I reckon this product is worth the money, especially at it's low price.

For non-serious players

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: March 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

If you're not a serious player, this is a bargain. By non-serious players I mean people who don't study chess; they just play it for fun. If you want a strong opponent whenever you feel like playing, then this is a good program for you. You get a simple 2D or 3D view and you can adjust its playing strength to your needs. At the strongest setting, it'll probably beat you every time. You also get a tutorial section that will probably teach you something new about the game.

If you're really new to chess or have a kid interested in chess, get Chessmaster instead.

If you're a serious player, don't bother getting this. You probably already own Chessbase programs anyway, which are way more expensive than this game.

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