Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 64
 Nice program when the price is right. November 6, 2009
David Jenkins
In short, this is reasonably strong chess engine with a lot of bells and whistles to make it entertaining. I do like some of the puzzles but most of the extras are aimed at kids in my opinion. And if you are buying a chess program for a child, this is the one to get.
My only criticism is the price. I don't what has changed since I bought this program a few months ago, but the price has almost tripled (I got it for $12). Maybe it is for the holiday season? At any rate, if the price comes back down, this is an very good deal. If it doesn't, get one of the Fritz programs, which at the moment are going for $17-$20.
 Great Learning and Challenges October 24, 2009
David C. Allmann (Fond Du Lac, WI USA)
If you want to advance your chess skills; this is a great buy to do it. There is no other chess game out there that can give you the ability to advance your skills as this game does. This games animation is very good, and the audio affects for some of the animated chess pieces, it will absolutely make you laugh. Makes the learning fun. Also, has great abilities to play online with players of any level.
Perfect for a beginner October 9, 2009
Charles Dickens
I haven't played chess since I was a kid, and even then it was only rarely, usually when I was at a friends house and the TV was broken. Recently I felt like my brain needed a jumpstart, I felt like my focus was waning a bit, so I decided to get into chess to sharpen my senses a bit. I bought this software based on its popularity on Amazon. After just 2 weeks of going through just the first few parts of Josh Waitzkin's academy (I'm not even halfway through it, and it's just one of three academies), and playing different AI opponents starting with a little girl with something like a 27 rating (thankfully I beat her - I probably would have quit right there if I had lost) and moving up to adults, I was able to beat an AI opponent with a rating of about 1400 (it was Josh Waitzkin age 7, in fact!).
This program has really gotten me into chess. I'm a lifetime fan of this game, now. Actually, I don't even see it as a game anymore, I see it as a sport. A great feature in this game is the huge archive of matches dating back to the 1600's. I NEVER thought I'd be interested in viewing chess matches -- most people would find that sleep-inducing -- but now I eagerly go through these matches and study each move carefully. The commentary is great but I wish there was more, I wish there was commentary on each move.
I can't imagine a better way for beginners to get into chess than this program. And I can't speak for chess veterans, but unless you're Kasparov or Anand I would think this piece of software would be more than adequate for your purposes.
Amazing Game, Get It! August 22, 2009
Dirk Manly (Orange, VA USA)
Chessmaster XI (Grandmaster Edition) is a very professionally produced product, with tons of information packed into it, and pretty much everything I need as an intermediate chess player. It has some GREAT tutorials, and I mean amazing -- ideas and concepts that really make me think and challenge me. I credit this software for making me a much better chess player and able to win against all of my friends.
Excellent software August 21, 2009
seeker (Atlanta, GA)
I've used chessmaster 3000, 5000 and now this one. I'm not a particularly good player so I've learnt tremendously from the tutorials in Academy and the first game I played on Chess Titans level 7 I managed to draw with black. Josh Waitzkin comes across a little full of himself but his pointers are very useful.
This game has become my favorite past time. I use a Turion 64 X2 laptop with ATI 3200 graphics card and it works perfect.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 64
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