|  | From: Ubisoft
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $7.62
as of 11/22/2009 09:45 CST details
You Save: $12.37 (62%)
New (17) Used (14) from $5.98
Seller: GoGamer
Rating:  151 reviews
Sales Rank: 4434
Platforms: Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows XP
Genre: Chess Games
ESRB: Everyone
Media: CD-ROM
Edition: Standard
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Age: 5 - 20 years
Operating System: Windows 98
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.3 x 1.5
MPN: 68194
ISBN: 0439799694
UPC: 008888681946
EAN: 9780439799690
ASIN: B00023XXMM
Release Date: August 10, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: PC IMPORT CD-ROM
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 151
 Chessmaster 10 - Who's running Win 98 and Me?! May 9, 2009
Raleigh Reader (Raleigh, NC United States)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I guess this is a review of Best Buy rather than Chessmaster 10. Best Buy stopped two years ago even offering the option of buying a computer with XP installed. I never imagined that the only computer game on their shelves (new section, not the cheap jewel cases) would have a 98/Me/XP- only game, and made the discovery when I tried to install it. I wasn't lucky enough to get the clerk a previous reviewer got - they wouldn't even give me store credit to buy a Vista game. Anyone want a free Chessmaster 10 for XP? But now that I've read the reviews I think I'll buy Josh's book and the Fritz game.
 Chessmaster review. May 2, 2009
Larry N. Brown (Covington, LA)
I'm a talented amateur and I find this program easy and fun to use. Logical and intuitive in function, it is a great and wily opponent and a good teaching master.
Larry
Not happy February 7, 2009
Dusty Joe
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Had I known that I had to stick the CD in everytime I start the game, I would have not bothered at all! I'd like to install a software and put the media away in the closet. Hate the idea of having a chess CD just lurking around my desk, so that the vendor is happy I have not stolen it! What a great way to protect anyway!! I talked to the support and asked to register the product so they give me a key or something, but not much help there! [...]
It's great January 26, 2009
Mr. Paul Goddard
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The other reviews said it wouldn't work with certain DVD players. This
made me waste time switching DVD players around. That didn't work. But
then I changed some install settings and it did work. It may be that if
you already have a higher Direct X it gives the error because you tried
to install a lower Direct X. Anyway I just installed the minimum stuff
and it works fine.
It's a great game and user friendly with different boards to play with
and different computer players to play against. It allows you set up a
position using player vs. player to get at the opening you want. You do
that in the training mode. By clicking the annotation window you can
see what side is winning with something like +.o5 meaning white is up a half a pawn. The Fritz CD doesn't have to stay in the DVD player to work so you might want Fritz too. But Fritz is not as user friendly or as fun
to play. get Chessmaster, it's great.
Not completely compatible with Vista December 25, 2008
Dennis Littrell (SoCal)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Overall rating should be 4 stars, but beware of the Jewel Box game which will not run on Windows XP.
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.
Showing reviews 6-10 of 151
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