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ChessMaster 10 Edition

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: May 22, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Although the power of this software is some what obsure (you have to dig for it). I ia a very good learning tool especially the tutorials, Worth the price ten time over.

OH MY GOD!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 12
Date: September 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I played this game for two minutes. The first thing I wanted to do was to sign on to amazon.com and write a positive note about it. It is AMAZING! It installed easily. You only need the CD to start the game. Apparently there is a patch that you can download that allows for starting the game without a CD, but who cares?

My 7 year old son played on the "fairytale board" and the graphics are, again, AMAZING! It keeps kids interested and it's like playing a video game.

I have had two computer chess games, Fritz--which is technically good, and POWERCHESS by Sierra which I absolutely loved. THIS GAME MAKES THEM PALE IN COMPARISON.

IT IS AWESOME!

If you buy CHESS SOFTWARE, you have to buy this one. No ifs, ands, or buts about it... Anyone who is displeased with it has other motives... If it fails somewhere down the road, I'll let you know, but right now, after loading it two minutes ago I can only say AMAZING!

May be DANGEROUS for your computer

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 12
Date: February 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought and installed CM10 a couple of days ago. The first game I played was great. I have Fritz8 as well and, for a "weekend" chess player, I found CM more challenging for my level of play without being overwhelming. Fritz is not a good program for non-grand masters - I can never handicap it enough to actually win a game. Plus the CM10 graphics are much better than Fritz, better than previous CM versions to actually, and the teaching materials on CM10, as on every CM version I've ever used, are great.

There's just one problem. It may cause your hard drive to crash. The second game I played caused my computer to freeze. I immediately started to back up my files, in the case of the worst possible scenario, I'd at least not have lost my documents. Except when I tried to burn my doc files (including pictures and music), to a blank CD, first my computer recognized the drive and that there was a blank CD in it, but when I tried writing my files to the CD, the system refused to recognize my CD-RW drive, so backing up ANYTHING to CD became impossible. Then today, when I tried to run the CM10 program, I received the Dreaded Blue Screen. Having read some of the reviews detailing the problems with writable drives, I'm pretty sure CM10 caused this. I haven't seen that blue screen since before Windows XP. I had to spend over an hour unistalling the program (I didn't dare put the CM disc into my CD/DVD play drive). Even after unistalling, my backup system wouldn't work. Now, I'm not sure how to ever retrieve copies of my doc files for back up. I finally used System Restore and erased all the files but one (a CM-10 file that won't let my computer delete it).

I certainly wish this program wasn't such a mine field. Of course, it may not have been this program at all; it may have been my PC (Dell - the worst computer I've ever had), or even Windows. The fact remains, however, that nothing like this has ever happened before I installed ths software. Bottom line: Unless there is a realiable fix on the ubisoft website, I will never try to install this program again. And, I'm getting a MAC.

Vastly Superior to the Other Programs

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 17
Date: August 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

If you are trying to choose between Fritz 9 and this, choose Chessmaster. (See my review of Fritz 9.)

Ignore the reviews about crashes and copy protection. Like I said in my Fritz review:
1. Quit stealing copyrighted material
2. Get a real graphics card.

Ubi disappoints again.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: October 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

1. The Chessmaster 10th Edition chess engine is fairly decent, but there is at least one serious problem-- Chessmaster sometimes cheats on time. When playing against a clock, the program should always move within the allowed time. (In a real chess match, failure to move within the allowed time forfeits the game).

2. It is surprising that Ubi has never implemented an integrated help system. The PDF help file is not a substitute for an integrated help system with a table of contents and searchable index.

3. The drill part of the program is not well-designed:

- It should be possible to get a hint or advice.

- It should be possible to take back a bad move. The purpose of drills is learning, so why not allow the user to take back a bad move?

- In the "advanced-level" king-and-queen-against-king-and-knight drill, the program sometimes pointlessly throws away the knight. This should not happen even in an intermediate-level drill.

4. I am rather disappointed with the endgame tutorials. The most important endgame is king and pawn against a bare king, and this endgame is poorly treated. The king-and-pawn-versus-king endgames break down into four cases which should be clearly explained and addressed separately:

(a) impossible to win unless opponent makes a mistake

(b) winable via direct race of the pawn to promotion

(c) winable by the "method of opposition"

(d) winable by "shielding off" the opponent's king, as in endgame #51 in Pandolfini's book "Endgame Course". The king-and-pawn-versus-king endgame drill in Chessmaster 10th Edition recognizes only case (c). There may not be much benefit to treating case (a), but cases (b) and (d) are important and should be included.

5. I bought Chessmaster 10th Edition in part because of the claim that graphics were improved from the previous version. But, the graphics are if anything inferior to the previous version.

6. The "quick hint" feature highlights the square to which the program advises that one move, but often two or more pieces could move so as to end on the highlighted square, in which case the hint is ambiguous.

[...]

In short, I'm very disappointed.

Chessmaster 10th Edition a HIT

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: October 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought this software and Fritz 9 in the same order. I figured I would probably prefer the Fritz 9. After downloading some patches I changed my mind.

Upon installation Chessmaster asked me if I had an official rating. I plugged it in and Chessmaster used that as my rating from my first "ranked" game. It went on the regular formula rather than the provisional formula from there. I find this very useful as I have not played in a tournament for over 4 years and with this tool I can find out where my game is before I become active again.

In the "training" mode, after each game an evaluation window pops up with a summary of how you did. It gives you the worse move you made in the game. This has aided me in spotting my weaknesses. The evaluation window also suggests an opponent for you to play next. Fritz has a mode called the friend mode that I always liked because it adjusts itself to my level of play. But I feel this feature of chessmaster is even better. It seems to be more accurate and quicker reacting than the self adjusting mode of Fritz.

I am not one for a lot of fancy graphics as far as chess sets. Ordinarilly I consider them a waste of hard drive space and memory. But I must admit I have had fun with the animated boards on chessmaster. I do realize they are a novelty that will wear off quickly with me but they were fun none the less.

These are the only features I have explored or probably ever will explore but they all made my purchase well worth while.

Looks good! - based on demo

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 14
Date: September 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'm giving 5 stars in the fun dept. since I liked the 3D chess board. I have trouble playing in 2D (perhaps when I become more advanced I'll appeciate 2D). I liked the silly sounds the game made in "Fun mode" and the animation. For example, when the rook is moved it changes into a ball and rolls to its new position. But the majority of the game appears very serious with a plethora of opponents to chose from, tutorials, hints, blunder alerts, etc. I easily beat it in Fun mode, but it demolished me on a more difficult level! I'm reserving giving it 5 stars on overall since I don't have the full install.

I'd like to address complaints about needing to have the CD in the drive when playing. Most of the PC games I have require having the disk in the drive and (don't tell anyone I said this) there are no CD patches. Keep in mind this review is based on the demo, though usually when I'm excited by a demo I'm even more excited with the full game!

Great for all levels of chess players

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: June 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I got this game for my kids. They have been playing chess for about a year. They use this all the time. It seems to help them greatly too. I tried some lessons for beginners too. It is a great baigain for $20.

Is a better game now from patches

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: November 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Most or even all of the problems with this chess game have been fixed with patches over the years, and you dont have to have the Cd in the drive anymore either to play. And its a better value then the new Chessmaster 11 Grandmaster Edition thats out now,which is almost the same game just re-packaged. So unless your a Pro chess champion then this game is pretty good for new to moderate players and the price.

Excellent game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: February 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I was one of the lucky ones who were able to get this game playing in notime, I was a bit nervous that I would have the same problems as others but I didn't. This is an excellent game. The only reason some people gave it 1 star was due to performance issues.

On to the game, I learned new chess tactics and advanced my knowledge alot, it helped me win my first varsity game. The game comes with 3d glasses and putting the game in 3-d makes the board feel more like a chess board.

I recomend this for rookies, intermediates, and pros.

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