Chessmaster

"Inexpensive, Fun, Addicting, and Challenging"

If you are seasoned chess player or new to the game completely, Chessmaster is a good game for you.

When you first start, you can create your profile as:
Completely new to chess, wanting top regain form, or advanced club player (can enter your own ranking)

First if you are new to the game of Chess all together, it has a in depth chess school. Which I found very helpful even as a regular chess player.

The chess school has different levels to learn at--Beginner, intermediate, advanced, josh, and practice openings.
In the beginner level it covers what each chess piece can do, its strengths, and its weaknesses. Also included in the beginner level is lessons on Castling, capturing en passant, Promotion, piece value, defense, pins, forks, discoveries, stalemates, openings, and algebraic notations. The beginner level also covers Planning and opening principles, and the development of each chess piece through the game. Each tutorial contains a quiz.

When you reach the intermediate level, the chess school covers topics like different themes, advanced moves of each piece, minor moves, advanced moves, and checkmating configurations. At this level there is a end game quiz, and a rating exam.

In the advanced section you get introduced to match the masters. Here you get to partner up with great chess masters to use the knowledge you picked up in other tutorials. There are also drills and puzzles at this level.

At the Josh section, it includes some of his first games, other annotated games, his psychology of competition, and a end game course.

In the practice openings section, you get to do just that. It tells how some famous players used to open their games. There are 97 total openings listed here.

--The game keeps up with what tutorials you have completed and also saves your quiz scores.--
--The opponents: The opponents ranges from a chimp named Stanley( rating is 1) through some young children, through teenagers and through adults, and eventually to the Chessmaster himself. Their ratings increase along the way. Please be prepared before you get embarrassed by The Chessmaster. I suggest completing all the tutorials.
All the characters have bios along with there style of play. These characters play accurately to theses styles as well.

As for other modes in the game:

Quick game:
Un rated casual chess game.

Setup position:
here you can set up the chess board however you like to start off. This is used great as a handicap.

Rated Game:
In a rated game you play against a computer or human character in a full game. The rating change depending on win, lose, or draw, and the rating of the other player. This simulates a online experience, or a chess club.

Puzzle of the Day:
Here the computer generates a one move puzzle. It may ask you to move the white king to it's only unchecked place, find the fork, find the pin, one move checkmate, and many more. This is a good mode to get your brain going.

Online:
Enough said! playing other players from all over the country. Good way to find out how good you really are. There is no chat aloud online during games. I agree with this, you are suppose to concentrate, not ask a/s/l?.

Championships:
This is a simulated chess tournament in a virtual chess world. You can get into tournaments with people of your similar rank.

Famous games:
There are 825 famous games played between masters. It has the full annotated moves listed, and you can move through them and watch the famous chess match. Some of these gave me ideas to use in my own game. Some of the games span back to 1619!

Chess Battle field:
possibly the most entertaining part of this game. Normal chess rules, with fighting pieces. Their is a lack of characters to play is this mode. Do not expect to play low rated opponents here.

Player stats:
The game keeps up with your ratings, best performance, opponents, tournaments, and online stats.

The game play is not much to figure out, it is very simple and solid. But the camera in this game can moved to any angle you want, but you cannot zoom in or out. This is not a major problem. I have friends who look at the board real close.

The graphics are solid. You can really tell when you cycle through the many chess sets available. Some of the odd ones are a Halloween set and a dog set. When you use these kinds it is hard to tell which pieces are which.

Sound: Not much sound in this game beside the narrator of the game. The music gets rather old fast. The way to change the music, is to change the chess set.

In closing:
This game is cheap , fun, addicting, and full of knowledge to be absorbed. I recommend this game to anyone who plays chess AT ALL, or is interested in learning.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/12/03, Updated 06/12/03