User Reviews (1 - 11 of 16)

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Excellent value for money

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: September 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have Fritz and Chessmaster, but I play Chessmate more than the other two at the moment. One reason is that tournament mode in Chessmate is really fun; the handicapping seems to work quite well, the players get stronger slowly, and on the Pocket PC the variation in moves that one opponent plays is not great so you can try the same ideas (better executed) if you lose. The variety of openings is not great, and this is also good because in effect you are getting drilled in a few standard openings. So the effectiveness of the handicapping and the lack of opening variety give me the impression that this has been designed as a learning tool. The other reason I use it is that it is quite a good way to store games you are playing with friends via sms, because in human v human mode it simply records moves; there is no chance to analyse the game with the Ruffian chess engine, which makes it quite fair.
The pocket pc version is pretty nifty; it has the tournament feature. The PC version is I think quite an impressive package; it provides a small number of challenging puzzles, some good text, and once again this really fun tournament feature. Under the tournament feature you play a number of progressively harder opponents, half the time you must play black. A tournament game is time limited and there is no take back or hint option. You can't save the game either, you must finish or resign. Your rating is changed based on the outcome; wins or even draws against harder opponents can really help your rating leap. However, if you lose, you simply do not progress, you must beat all four players in the current round to progress, and you can take as many attempts as you like. Since each opponent plays with limited variety, you can easily play yourself back to the place you made a mistake, and do better this time. I also find this effective for learning. You must start the tournament in bronze level, which is a low level of opponent, so that could be 24 boring short games for a strong player.
All in all, this is surprisingly good chess software. For the money, it's worth it. I think this would be the first game I would give a child of all the chess software I own.

Powerful opponent, easy and cheap

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 15 / 15
Date: April 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The engine is very powerful and realistic. Whereas the strength of opponent in Chessmaster is all over the shop, Chessmate provides a consistent opponent who doesn't make dumb mistakes that a player at a given elo rating would never make in real life.

The training options are quite good if limited. The best parts are how you can follow standard openings in a video play manner for 20 or so moves, and the quick hint function while playing games. Of course it can't compete with the much more expensive Chessmaster for full training options or eye candy but it isn't trying to do this.

If you want a good strong opponent who will give you a realistic (and somewhat humbling- in my case a couple of hundred points lower than Chessmaster) assessment of your true rating then Chessmate wins hands down.

If you want all the glitzy bells and whistles then Chessmaster is hard to better and very entertaining.

I think both are well worth having, but if you just want an honest assessment of your true playing stength and an opponent who doesn't throw in the towel for no reason, then Chessmate is a bargain as the more powerful chess engine at much lower cost. It goes right down to 500 elo so kids can still have a chance of beating it in a realistic competetion even without it throwing the game away (unlike misleading Chessmaster).

Chess will never be a rainbow colored shoot em up 3D video game. Chessmate will not disappoint a serious chess player who wants to play honest chess against a very realistic and powerful opponent. Its very entertaining to train and improve by fooling around with Chessmaster, but the real test of ability is playing rated games against a realistic and powerful engine like Chessmate.

Pretty good except....

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: April 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Played this on a friends machine - a dozen or so games.
THe game has a really nice feel to it. The lower levels can let you win without performing obvious blunders and that is the one thing that Chessmaster is sadly lacking. This game actually feels like playing a human.
Two gripes -

1. the graphics are a bit ordinary (2d mode)
2. If you get checkmated or checkmate/stalemate or lack of material you cannot choose to 'undo' !!!! the game just ends !

The second point is really annoying because I primarily use chess programs to learn

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.

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.

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