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Chessmaster is a powerful, useful engine

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I recommend that people who have purchased Fritz 8 check out
Chessmaster 9000. I have both programs, and I even have a few other chessbase programs like Shredder. I've played Chessmaster 9000 versus Fritz 8, Shredder 6, and Hiarcs, and Chessmaster won every time-- sometimes it crushed Fritz 8 in twenty moves. The amount of chess knowledge in Chessmaster 9000 is incredible. It would take a whole lifetime to review all of the games. The detailed analysis of games and the various workshops are great. I am surprised that so many reviewers claimed that Chessmaster 9000 is a weak engine. This is untrue-- even in the last world computer tournament, Chessmaster won (Chessmaster is called the King, so when you see the engine that won, look at the fact that none of the Chessbase engines performed as well). The best function so far is the hints that Chessmaster gives-- sometimes analyzing as far as twenty moves ahead, while Fritz only analyzes one move ahead. The downside about Chessmaster is a problem I have had with the windows-- they sometimes don't open right on my computer. Second, Chessmaster can be confusing because it is so elaborate. In this respect, Fritz 8 is much easier to use, even though it is a weaker chess engine. Any of these engines play at a level that most humans cannot even comprehend. I recommend that owners of Chessbase engines try out Chessmaster before they condemn this product-- both Fritz and Chessmaster are good products.

GOOD BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: August 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The graphics are outstanding. Graphics is the only area that Chessmaster beats Fritz 8. Chessmaster needs less graphics and more database utilities, better analysis, and more teaching options. If you just want to play chess then you will like Chessmaster. If you want to not only play but also improve then you need more. For just 7$ more you can have the best program on the market today (Fritz).

If you click on my name you will get my personal information and see a recommended study list. I put together this list of books and software with only one thing in mind...to improve your game without wasting your money. If you want to get better at chess this list will give you the most bang for your buck.

Win XP

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 13
Date: August 30, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is the best chess game on earth and of course it will support Win XP, even if they say 98/ME. Do you really think they'd make a game not supporting XP in 2002 ???

Good but not Great

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: January 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have loved chessmaster since i first bought one. Prior to that i used Sargon. I finally upgraded to CM9000 and im not so much in love anymore, now more of in like. CM9000 has soome major flaws, it likes to hang up on you in the game room and if you are lucky you can get it to go again by pauseing and restarting. This was not an issue in previous releases and contrary to popular belief and ubi tech it will not be solved by installing thier patches. The online playing ability via the ubi site is hit and miss, usually miss. The only remedy is to create login after login in hopes of conencting, all those extras that didnt connect are a waste. Of course some people get lucky and make it in 3, others ive read at the ubi forums are on more than 30 logins and counting. One of the sell points is "true 3D game play" well its 3D but you are limited to whats in the game and Two others downloaded. Not a big gripe but would be nice to have more choices. Tech support is non existant, any real support comes from the forum members at ubi, not ubi itself. There are other little nags but they can for the most part be overlooked..like opponent maker really needs to have better options. If they did it like the Hoyle games software it would be outstanding. Although unlike some i really like the new and improved teaching areas. This in itself makes it a great purchase for the beginning to mid level student of chess. The final gripe its been 10 months since anything was done to even try to fix the bugs... will 2 more months make a difference? The world waits to see what will come first... bug fixes for the CM9000 or the rumored CM10K (which one has to wonder, if they dont admit to the bugs they have now will they even bother to fix them in a new version?) CM9000 Is still the best IMO user friendly interface and the engine is pretty good but if you can put up with the less user friendliness and a higher price, or you are a more experienced player ready to meet the challenge then I would suggest going with Fritz.

ChessMaster - OK But Many Bugs

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: June 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The ChessMaster 9000 is an OK game; However there are still
many bugs (esp on Win XP) which makes one lose any motivation to play. UBI Support is non-existent. Once you post a bug, you
will always receive a 'generic reply' within 48 hours. But they
then close the ticket and your 'bug' has now vanished.
I'm now looking for a more stable and challenging program

Full install fails

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 07, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Chessmaster 9000 fails to install the complete package. I bought two of them, returned one, the unopened one I got for my kids. Maybe it would work on an older version of Windows than XP, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Chessmaster 9000

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 20, 2008
Author: Amazon User

If you enjoy spending hours fiddling with software that doesn't run properly, searching every possible website imaginable to help troubleshoot that software, and reading a 40 page PDF file hoping to find a morsel of useful information on installation, then Chessmaster is the game for you. A colossal waste of time. I have purchased many other games and had no trouble installing and running them, but this one is pure frustration. I managed to get a few false starts with this game which merely let me watch the introductory video that tells you how great the game is. Funny thing is, that's the only part of this software that worked. Now I get to find out how difficult they will make it for me to return it for a refund.

Good Chess, flawed XP compatibility

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is the best Chess program bar none. However, the installer is not "multi-user" aware for XP. This means that my kids have to log in as me to run the program. An odd flaw for a great program.

A Master's opinion:

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: May 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I don't own this version of chessmaster but I used to own Chessmaster 7000, the games annotated by IM Josh Waitzkin makes this a good buy but I wouldn't pay more than $35. The annotated games are basically chess lessons, which you would be paying $40-50 an hour for. You might want to check out a program called PowerChess its simple program based on calculating your position (nothing else will improve your chess quicker, you could prob buy it for $10 if its still available) and once you get good enough, buy Fritz to analyze.

I was quite dissapointed with the program itself...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: May 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

To start out the game is pretty good, there's all these features to explore, begginer training, online gaming, and libraries with opening references. However the chess is pretty [crummy]. First of all many computers have Intel graphics processors, or maybe not all but a lot of them do, whether it's 4 or 64 MB, the 3D graphics, however, do not always appease me they may look a lot like a real board but since I can't touch them I'd rather have flat screen, but the game crashes if you try to make it fixed view or 2D, my video card is only 4 MB anyway so the board looks pretty bad. That isn't really a huge issue though, I just think it should have been fixed by now. The computer AI is where I am most dissapointed, their gameplay is plain fake, and materialistic. I've played real masters and I could only survive for 25 moves at most. (not that I'm a bad player I just can't beat masters in 1v1 but I can draw them in simos). Now imagine I survived against Capablanca for 40 moves without any help! Well thats what happened on CM9K. I also feel a little insulted by the fact that Ubi decided to emulate some of the best players in history and not even give them their proper rating. I mean common we all know Capablanca is rated way higher than Josh Waitzkin, and than Karpov, Capablanca, Alekhine and a few other top players could beat this machine without even trying. The players it tries to emulate sometimes make pretty stupid moves just for the sake of their persona, and the players are severly overrated. Maybe the players actually did own those ratings, but the computer fails to play with style, I know a 1200 player is probably not great but I know that no human in his right mind would give up his knight because he lacks skill. I say all these things because I have seen a chess computer that is of the same price but plays a lot more like a human (Fritz). There're some good points to CM9K, you get excellent begginer to advanced training, and 12 audio annoted games by Josh Waitzkin they are guaranteed to boost your rating by 300 points if you listen and take note on what he says. Ubi online is free, another good point most chess servers are paid but this is FREE. I guess the verbal analysis and blunder alert are pretty useful too, I myself don't have much trouble reading long variations of moves with the 100ths of pawn advantages you gain in the end but many people would rather have the simple language analysis provided by CM9K with visual examples. And I guess the chess databse is pretty useful it has a lot of games it takes quite a bit of cash to buy all those games in some places. Overall the game has many features for the average gamer but fails to give you a decent human like opponent and crashes A LOT. On the bright side it has annoted game by an International master a huge database and a great chess coaching device, I think it serves well as a training and learning tool. I'd give it a five if ubi would just admit that the computer opponents are [crummy], but since this is considered a computer opponent in addition to teacher i give it a 3.

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