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Chessmaster 10th Edition

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: February 28, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game is a big improvement over earlier versions. Not only are there several useful chess tutorials and lessons, but you are able to play rated games against fictional characters that have their own chess personality. Much mnore comprehensive then the Play Staion2 version.
The 3D & battleing chess sets (With 3-D glasses are pretty cool but not overwhelming. I haven't played on-line with the software yet.
The one big problem is that I have a slightly older PC (a 4 years old pentium 4) and the game sometime locks up and freezes.
Overall a good buy if you love chess and want to improve your game.
(...)

Good game for begginers.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: November 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Starting, I know some people are having trouble installing or running the game, for me it didnt had any mayor problem and the game runs fine and i have a CD/DVD RW.

This game is for begginers or people who like to play chess for fun, the engine is great and you can have real fun trying to unlock the chess sets, besides you can learn really good moves playing the tutorials or watching games from the best players in the world.

This is not a perfect game but what game is?

Chessmaster 10 Delivers

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: November 14, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game install was a little rocky for me. Initally I didn't allow the game to update my DirectX video engine (I have a brand new laptop so I didn't figure I needed to) and it hung and wouldn't let me eject the CD without powering down. I finally allowed it to and then it went through the install without a hitch. I got the lastest patch from the vendor website and it has run well WITHOUT requiring the CD to be in the drive.

I am not an expert player. What made be get back into the game was my 18 year old kicked my butt on our game so I figured I'd better learn some things about it before I play her again. It is really fun and you can pick players who are WORSE than you! I didn't think that would be important but it makes it much more enjoyable to play.

Not completely compatible with Vista

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: July 31, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The real question for most chess players looking for some chess software is whether to buy Chessmaster or Fritz (or Fritz's Shredder). I have used both for many years. I actually go back to the days of Chessmaster 2100, which had the playing strength of perhaps a subclass F player, if such a player existed.

For the average player the conventional wisdom has always been that Chessmaster is better because it has more training features and is more user friendly, both in terms of "fun" kinds of chess activities and in terms of how intuitive the software is to navigate. Fritz clearly has been the choice of professionals, partly because it will run without the disc in the drive (although earlier versions of Chessmaster did run without the disc in the drive), partly because Fritz's architecture is considered more elegant, partly because Fritz has a much bigger database of games, and finally because Fritz's chess engine is stronger.

Chessmaster's "personalities" (with ratings) that you can play against have always been one of its most popular features. Chessmaster 10 has the same personalities, from grandmaster-like virtuals to everyday kind of people (complete with mug shots) playing at easy to beat levels, that it has had in previous editions. The problem with these personalities--or maybe this is their main virtue--is they are not as strong as the ratings that Chessmaster gives them. A 2100 Chessmaster personality actually plays like a low B player, while on Fritz it is the other way around, with their 1800 players playing like experts or in some positions like masters. Psychologically speaking, I think Chessmaster has the right approach. For someone preparing for their first tournament against rated players, however, just playing against Chessmaster's personalities can be like living in lollypop land. Still, these personalities have some real value as training devices. Some of them (with ratings between say, 1900 and 2150) function like this: they give away material, even as much as a piece for two pawns and then play a very strong game that can test the user's ability to "win a won game." Stronger personalities will lose a tempo or make an antipositional move or two that can, with careful play, be exploited.

One of the personalities is "Josh age 12, Attacker, loves endgame, weaker positionally." This would be IM Josh Waitzkin as a preteen, complete with actual photo of him then. I played against this personality a few times and "he" can make some strange moves and still manage to have a good game, and you need to watch out for traps. "He" can also stir up an attack out of seemingly nowhere. But his endgame is not very good. The real Josh Waitzkin at age 12 would have no trouble beating this personality in a match.

Chessmaster 10 does not automatically save your game, as Fritz does, and I must repeat, you have to have the DVD in the drive to play the game. Both of these "unfeatures" are annoying. Additionally, Chessmaster 10, despite offering three patches at its Web Site, is still in not completely compatible with Windows Vista--at least not on my computer. The line at the bottom of the page that gives the opening is so narrow so that the words and numbers don't quite fit. The same problem exists with the text in some of the windows. The program crashes on occasion for no apparent reason. And there are a number of little bugs, such as once I set up the 2D chess set, I couldn't get back to a screen that will allow me to change to a 3D set.

Still, the program is very much worthwhile, especially for those of you who remember Zarkov and Chessmaster 3000, etc. Today's Chessmaster engine is easily strong enough for all but the very best players in the world. Chessmaster 10 will analyze your games to any degree you like (and alas find all the errors you made that you didn't think you made), and unlike Fritz it makes it easy to either load your game or to record the game using the human vs. human playing set up. (Go to "Game set up" and click on both human avatars.)

Like Fritz, Chessmaster has an Internet play feature that I haven't used.

So--which is better, Chessmaster or Fritz? You know the answer--it depends! Personally I like them both for different reasons. But if I had to choose just one, I would choose Fritz because (1) the huge database, and (2) to say it for the third time: you don't have to have the DVD in the drive to play. For the less than master level player Chessmaster may be the better choice because the software is easier to navigate and more intuitive. Chessmaster 10 is also cheaper than Fritz Chess (which is the same as Fritz 10).

But should you upgrade if you already own a previous version of Chessmaster? Alas, probably yes, since earlier versions (or at least the Chessmaster 8 that I have) are not compatible with Vista at all. Even so, I am disappointed that Chessmaster 10 is virtually the same program as far as features go as Chessmaster 8. It feels like a dying program that has been abandoned by its creators. Too bad. At one time it was the best.

For "social" players, there's none better.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: June 27, 2006
Author: Amazon User

By "social" players, I refer to those (myself included) who play chess and take it seriously, but not enough to have it dominate our lives. Real serious, tournament players with good ratings may find this product lacking. When I get there, I'll let you know if I agree or not.

I've used Chessmaster back to version 7, four PC's ago, and I've never had a serious problem with any of the versions, including the 10th Edition. I'm not saying it doesn't have some quirks and things you'd like changed - all video products do - but overall, I've found it very stable. Currently, I have Chessmaster 10 running on my Dell 2.4GHz 1GB machine, Windows XP, and I've had no problems worth mentioning.

What you look for in CM10 depends, I think, on how strong a player you are. A USCF 1000-level player would be looking for different things than a USCF 2000 player. I'm not all that strong. If I had a USCF rating, it would probably be about 1100. So, I'm learning, and need a learning vehicle. Most of all, I need opponents of varying strength for me to practice on. And CM10 has all of this.

And, to help you learn, there are very nice tutorials and lessons to keep you going and keep you improving.

If you're new to chess, or just starting out, I really recommend this product. At $19.98, CM10 costs less than even the cheapest chess set plus a good learning book. And if you're a parent and want to see how your kid takes to chess (and assuming you have enough computer), CM10 is the perfect approach. Since CM10 has "rated" games, have your kid earn that chess set that he/she is bugging you for.

I'm giving this product 5 stars because, for me, it has everything I need, and more.

This software gets better and better

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: February 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

there is FREE software (a "fix", or "patch") available at the Ubisoft site, so that you DON"T need to leave the disk in the drive!!!

More bugs than an anthill!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: June 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Hearing about all the patchwork required for this game, after the first installation I went to Ubisoft to download it. Now that I've done that, I can't access the game anymore. It says it doesn't recognize the version! All the other problems on top of this and the game is a waste of time. Try to find the customer support FAQ that addresses this and you'll win the prize. Try to contact a person, and well you must work there.

Greg

Good interface

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: February 14, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Advantages:
Original problems with Chessmaster 10 I think have been resolved with latest free downloadable patch. No longer need to have original CD to play game. It has excellent training tools and one of the best interfaces.

Caveats:
At ratings around 1000 it makes stupid moves that totally unrealistic. So it plays as a bad computer rather that inexperienced chess player.

I would recommend HIARCS or Shredder as a better alternative.

Had no problems at all! Highly recommended!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: December 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I don't know about all the negative reviews, but I had absolutely no trouble installing and playing Chessmaster X. I received the game today and installed it on my laptop running Windows XP (Home Edition) at Pentium 4, 3.06 GHz (with HT) and 447MB of RAM. The only thing (not a problem) is that you have to have the first disc inside of your DVD drive when you play this game -this does not bother me at all. Also, I have a DVD burner in my laptop, so that is not a problem either. Chess academy with Waitzkin is awesome. Graphics are excellent. I also have Fritz 8, and it's pretty good, but for analyzing games only. If you want to learn how to play chess and have fun while you are learning, get Chessmaster X. If you are way up there, Fritz or other programs are for you. By the way, I ran Chessmaster X against Fritz 8 in a blitz 2-min game, and Chessmaster X won..

Chessmaster's 10th

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: December 31, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Chessmaster 10th Edition is a distinct improvement over CM 9000. Let's take a look at some of the new features in CM 10th Edition:

- A completely new interface (there is more than one interface to choose from)
- A 3D board option visible with 3D glasses, which came in the box
- More computer opponents to play against
- A `simultaneous game' option where you can play against more than one computer opponent at a time
- A database of over 530,000 games (compared to the 500,000 game database in CM 9000)
- More IM Josh Waitzkin audio courses (in addition to the old courses found in CM 9000), plus a whole new audio course by GM Larry Christiansen
- Three animated boards and some other non-animated 2D and 3D boards
- Easier -to-use windows that don't clutter up the screen

Overall, this is a big improvement over CM 9000. Chessmaster 10th has taught me a lot.
Here are some features that helped me improve my chess:

- A large `opening book tree', containing many chess openings
- A `natural language advice' feature, which gives you an in-detail explanation about a recommended move in a position
- An improved `blunder alert' feature that informs you if you make a bad move
- A `Mentor Lines' feature that shows you the best moves in a position

It should also be noted that although I don't play chess over the Internet, you can with Chessmaster.

-Chess Guy

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