Chessmaster 9000

by Feral Interactive

Product Features

• Smart, popular chess software
• Learn how to play like a master
• Incredible 3-D sets, boards, and backgrounds
• Tons of features to improve learning
• For 1 or 2 players

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000VMIM2
• Item Weight: 5 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: December 6, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,987 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #17 in Video Games > Mac Games > Strategy
  • #75 in Video Games > Mac Games > All Games

Product Description

Platform: Mac

From the Manufacturer

Discover the fun of mastering the game of chess in the latest edition of the best-selling chess brand available. Chessmaster 9000 is not only the most fun you'll have playing chess, it's also the most comprehensive chess program available and the only one that will improve your level of play. Learn how to master your opponent, how to find the best moves, and how to shut out distractions. Improve your play immediately with the new Blunder Alert feature. Test your skills with the new Endgame Quiz from US Chess Champion and Grand Master, Larry Evans. Chessmaster 9000 will be your teacher, mentor, and ultimate opponent.

Product Description

ChessMaster 9000 - Teacher Mentor and Ultimate Opponent. CM9K is the ebst-selling series of Chess simulations and this is the first of the series to appear on the Mac for several years and it reappears on the Mac with a new and improved chess engine that allows players to compete against more than 150 different opponents from beginning to Grandmaster level combined with the best 3D graphics ever seen in a chess program.System Requirements:Minimum: Mac OS 10.2 Macintosh PowerPC 500 Mhz 1 GB available hard disk space 128 MB of RAM (w/virtual memory set to at least 256 MB) Hardware accelerated 3D graphics card with 16 MB VRAM. Recommended: Mac OS X 10.3 Macintosh PowerPC 700 MHz 1 GB available hard disk space 256 MB of RAM Hardware accelerated 3D graphics card with 32 MB VRAMFormat: MAC 9.1-9.X10.1 OR LATER Genre: ENTERTAINMENT UPC: 644247001552 Manufacturer No: 155

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Latest version of perennial favorite has hefty requirements, December 29, 2004

By 

Richard A. Fowell (Los Angeles, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Chessmaster 9000 (Mac) (CD-ROM)

Highlights:
(1) Make sure you have the necessary hardware/software before buying this.
(2) Of the three documentation sets, the Manual.pdf file CM9000 installs
on your hard drive is the most thorough.

Chessmaster has long been the most popular Mac commercial chess program.
It has been over 3.5 years since the last version (Chessmaster 6000)
was updated (April 2001), so I was excited to receive it today.

Chessmaster 9000 is OS X native and comes on a DVD full of goodies.
The minimum hardware/software requirements are high, though.
Both the package documentation and the publisher's Web site
(Feral Interactive) say you need:
- DVD player ( the Chessmaster DVD must be in your DVD drive to play)
- Mac OS 10.2 (minimum) or higher
- 256 MB RAM, 1.3 GB free hard drive space, Quicktime 6
If your setup doesn't meet these criteria, then Chessmaster 6000 Mac,
which Amazon also sells, is an alternative.

My copy came with a 20 page hardcopy manual, a 54 page manual
in Acrobat format (Manual.pdf) that was installed on my hard drive,
and a 68 page copy of the 2-yr old Windows version manual (?!)
accessible by the Help: Chessmaster Help menu option. The
Manual.pdf file seemed the most useful.

The program features are arranged in five areas:
- Classroom: tutorials, drills, tests, problems, annotated games at four levels
- Game Room: play games for fun, with lots of help from Chessmaster
- Library: View any of 800 classic annotated games from 1619-2002
- Tournament: Play games for score - no hints, takebacks, etc. ;
set up matches between various simulated chess greats
- Database: 500.000+ chess games, searchable by position, or from an
opening game tree of some 2200 initial move sequences.
- Kids Room: Training and games for beginners
- GM Live: Play another person over a LAN or the Internet

The program supports hosted games through the GameRanger site,
but the GameRanger site does not list it at present.

The voice-narrated annotated games and animated analysis are my
favorite features of this product. When Josh Waitzken is explaining
his games, for example, squares light up, ghosted pieces show
alternative moves, and arrows show lines of attack.

Also, Chessmaster is very strong. Of chess programs available
on the Macintosh, Chessmaster 9000 is second only to HIARCS
(based on matches played with the PC versions by the SSDF).
Chessmaster 9000 uses the chess engine "The King 3.23".

105 of 110 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Cannot play without the DVD, January 5, 2005

By 

Sylvan J. Zaft (New Hudson, Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Chessmaster 9000 (Mac) (CD-ROM)

This program has many fine features but they are useless to those of us with a laptop who do not want to carry the DVD with us.

Each time you load the program you must insert the DVD or it will not work. The manufacturer has every right to insert this copy protection feature but the buyer should be warned. I would not have spent the $40 for this program had I known about this limitation. I am away from home a lot and want to use the program to relax during little breaks from study and writing.

If every program used this kind of copy protection we would have to carry a lot of DVDs with us and constantly search through them for the right one every time we wanted to load a program. This would be ridiculous.

For those who are comfortable with this feature and have all the hardware to run it properly it is a fine value worth five stars.

ADDITION: The program interferes with other programs.

One of the advantages of the Mac X operating system is that you can run a bunch of programs at the same time, switching between them as needed or desired.

Chessmaster 9000 has interfered with two of my programs. Even though I turn all of the sound off in Chessmaster 9000, it blocks iTunes from running. It also stops macros from running in Microsoft Word for the Mac.

The program may not be suitable for users who would like to have it running or loaded while they have another program on.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent program, new patches available make it run on 10.4, January 27, 2006

By 

Dalton (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Chessmaster 9000 (Mac) (CD-ROM)

I just got Chessmaster 9000 for Mac in the mail today, and I'm already having quite a bit of fun with it. I'm a bit crazy, I already had Chessmaster 9000 for the PC, but I don't have a PC anymore and figured that it wouldn't be any fun to play in Virtual PC (rating - 0 stars), so I picked up the Mac version.

The Mac version is pretty much identical. It's got lots of great lessons, and more gameplay options than could ever be fully explored. I think the game actually seems a bit smoother on Mac than on PC.

For those complaining, it seems that Feral has finally let the patches out of beta, and the game now works pretty smoothly on OS X 10.4, Tiger. This is what finally prodded me into purchasing the game. I haven't seen any problems yet, but one: no online play available. I'm not sure this is a big deal, I'll give it a try on another day and see if it works, if not, I'll contact support.

This game is fun and educational. I would give it five stars, except for the copy protection issue that requires that the DVD be inserted to play the game. This STINKS! I would like to take the game with me wherever I have my laptop, but the idea of carrying a $40 DVD with me, when it's likely to get lost or scratched, doesn't appeal to me. I wish developers wouldn't pull these kinds of tricks. Otherwise, I would have gladly given it 5 stars.

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