Customer Reviews

Chessmaster 9000

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Chessmaster 9000 has a lot of things going for it. To start with, the chess engine itself ("The King") is very strong, and on its highest setting, it will beat all but the very best players. It is quite flexible, and comes with hundreds of pre-set personalities that range from the lowliest novice to the juggernaut grandmaster. It also allows you to create custom personalities with a fair amount of detail, including their overall strength, preference for material or positional play, how they value the pieces with respect to one another, and so on. Your options for controlling the games are also quite sufficient, with plenty of different time controls available, and the ability to make the controls different for white and black.

The best part of CM9000, though, is the wealth of tutorials and practice drills that are built into it, which cover an array of chess topics and will teach the beginning player a great deal. I especially enjoyed the material contributed by IM Josh Waitzkin, including a dozen of his games that he gives a full running commentary for, an endgame course illustrating strategies for how to use the different pieces to full advantage in the endgame, and a course on the psychology of competition which was very interesting even for someone like me, who's never played chess competitively. I have already learned a lot about chess theory from going through these tutorials, and I've not even been through half of them yet.

CM9000's first weak point is the interface. Run the game at a low to medium resolution and the various windows will soon be taking up way too much valuable real estate on the screen. If you use a fixed view or 3D chess board, the Captured Pieces window is particularly offensive, taking a ludicrous amount of space to show the large piece graphics with plenty of space between them. There are so many improvements that could be made to the interface, and most of them would be extremely simple to implement.

The graphics are not particularly good. There are numerous chess sets available, but many of the options are custom sets that take more time to get used to than they're worth, and even some of the more straightforward designs tend to blend into one another and wrench your eye when they're actually placed on the chessboard. The piece designs and textures could have been much better. Furthermore, the 3D view doesn't run very smoothly on older machines, even with 3D acceleration. This would be acceptable for a graphically complex game, but even a novice programmer should be able to display a 3D chessboard efficiently on a Pentium III-500. In the tutorial mode, using the fixed view boards, I've noticed the pieces sometimes scale strangely, getting smaller and then larger as they move. There are all kinds of little quirks like this. The bottom line is that while the game seems to have lots of graphical options, most of them are worthless. Stick with the simple 2D boards.

Finally, the program has crashed on me way too often for comfort. It crashes sometimes when I switch from one room to another, particularly if I hadn't been to that room before. It crashes occasionally when I try to switch from 2D to 3D. Once in awhile it will crash at the end of a game analysis. This is very irritating. I am not using an unsupported OS or hardware, and I've installed the latest patch, so I don't know what the problem is. And that brings me to another point: non-support of Windows 2000. Other reviews say it does run on Win2K, but the fact that UbiSoft won't support it is absurd. Speaking from a game programmer's perspective, this should not be a big issue with a program like this one.

It would have been nice to have some other modes of play available, since there are a ton of chess variants out there that are fun to play, but CM9000 doesn't support any of them. (You can play blindfold chess, but I have enough trouble memorizing a position, much less a whole bloody game!) I realize that this might introduce some difficulty in getting the chess engine to play the variants well, but I'd be happy just having the options there, even if the computer doesn't play them to full grandmaster standard. At least throw some of them in for online play against other humans.

So, the bottom line: Chessmaster 9000 is a decent program, worth the price of admission for its tutorials alone, much less its strength of play, but it does have a number of flaws that stand in the way of it being a much better program.

First thing first: Chessmaster 9000 runs smoothly on my three-year-old laptop; the inteface, windows, and menus are intuitive and easy to customize; the boards, pieces, side windows (those showing moves made, pieces taken, etc.) and graphics in general are crips and clear. Two minor problems: a). if you run the game on a low resolution (800X600 or less), the various windows tend to "clutter" quickly and hide each other, making the larger 2D boards and the 3D ones useless. b). Unless you have a 3D accelerator, the "true 3D" chess boards don't work. These problems sound much worse than they actually are, since in practice you don't need to use most of the side windows, and the 3D boards tend to be more for "show" than for practical play; the medium-sized 2D boards are just fine.

Now for the chess program. Unless you are in the top 0.01% or so of players, the Chessmaster 9000's program can beat you. More important, for the vast majority of playes, are the numerous options. There are dozens of computer opoonents to choose from, on every level from complete novice to strong master, and each with their own "personality". No matter what your strength is, you will an oppoent that is on your level of play, and for a challange some that are anywhere from slightly stronger to a LOT stronger.

When it comes to the game itself, the program comes with all the expected frills: you can choose from dozens of different time controls, or set your own time controls; you can make them different for black and white, and force the computer to move anytime. You can start from any position, play black or white, give yourself (or the computer) odds in time or material, and so on. The "side" windows show anyhting from pieces taken and moves made to time remaining and name of opening. The computer can even annotate the game after it's finished.

In other words, in a few mouse clicks you can move from playing a friendly speed chess game against someone on your level, to a tournament game with a strong master (complete with the master's annotations, after the game), to polishing your Sicilian Dragon opening or rook-and-pawns endings (set up the position, give yourself infinite time and the computer 5 seconds a move when it's playing at its stongest level), to solving chess problems (set up the position, give the computer infinite time, come back after dinner and force it to move) and so on and so forth.

But the really nice thing about Chessmaster 9000 is that the chess program is almost incidental to the "classroom", "database room", and "kid's room". In these rooms, you can get an entire chess course, starting with "how does the pawn move?" and ending with "what is the strategic plan of the Grandmaster who played white in this position?". This tutorial alone is the equivalent of buying a few (good) instructional chess books, and topping it off with a couple of "my best games" volumes, opening encyclopedias, and endgame books. It is worth the price of the software all on its own.

You start with the kids' tutorials and the "Beginner's" stage in the classroom, which start with how pieces move, what checkmate is, and so on and show you some basic strenghts and weaknesses of the various pieces. You move from there to the "intermediate" level, where you learn and practive basic chess concepts--especially concepts like "initiative", "space", "pawn formation", "planning", and so on that most mediocre players know SOMETHING about but not nearly enough to get better. Then you move on to advanced concepts in strategic chess thinking, ending with looking deeply at grandmasters' games and trying to think like them. You also get to practice endings, openings, and middle-game combinations as seperate subjects. Each level comes not only with a tutorial, but with numerous drills, tests, and so on. When this is done, you are ready to move to the huge database of endings, openings, and masters' games in the "Database" room. There you can practice what you learned, and try to "think like a grandmaster".

If you do not have a chess program on your computer, or are looking for a present for a kid that doesn't (perhaps trying to interest them in chess) then this is unquestionably the best PC chess program on the market. It is particualrly suitable as a gift for children since it contains no sex, violence, or profanity, and does not require dad's newest computer to run--the old one would do fine. Finally, unlike most video games, it is a program you or your child will still be using two years from now; chess is chess, and it doesn't need the newest 3D accelerator, graphic card, or CPU to be good and have what is now called "replay value". If you become good enough to beat it at the hardest level--a feat that, in most action games, takes the average 13-year-old about two weeks--then call the local papers, since you are probably the next Bobby Fischer.

It is precisely this long life that is the one reason NOT to buy this program--if you have the Chessmaster 8000 or 7000. They, too, have all of the tutorials, options, and so on that this program has; the one difference is the slightly slicker graphics and the "true 3D" boards--both almost useless, for practical purposes, and not worth buying a new program to have.

The Chessmaster series of programs have been fine tutorials with some nice showy features for the casual chess enthusiast. However, the publishers of this program are continuing to show their laziness in upgrading the product. Most "upgrades" just tweak a few aspects, so that they are really not needed if you're running an older version.
They are two very serious problems with this program that they seem intent on never fixing. One is their continued insistance on forcing the player to have the original CD in the drive when starting the program. No one likes having to do this, and as a result, there's a flourishing blackmarket on the net of cracks to remove this feature.
The second, and most serious problem, is their continued neglect of the Windows 2000 operating system. This program will only work correctly if you're running Windows 98, or one of the poor saps who was suckered into Windows ME. Even though it touts itself as running on XP, there are severe problems with it in that environment. If the Chessmaster folks want to continue selling their product, they must make it Windows 2000 and XP compliable, in every way. Until then, we'll turn to other products.

I recently bought the Chessmaster 9000. The last program I had before it was the Chessmaster 2100. Let me say that I'm impressed. I'm a Class A player (1800-1999) and I enjoy this program. The Chessmaster is an extremely tough opponents. It even beat US Champion Larry Christiansen in a 6 game match. It's divided up into several sections.....

Tournament Room:
You play "rated" games or hold mock tournaments. There at least 50-100 different "personalities" that you can play against... different "people" that prefer different openings or style of play. This can be interesting to play against different styles and different levels. The downside to this is that the poorer moves they make is not typical of how a poorer human would play. Typically, you might push a pawn to attack a piece and the computer progam of "1400 rating" may leave it hanging. A real player rated 1400 does not make such dumb obvious misses. The tournament is nice but after you play your game, you have to sit and watch all the other games. Boring. You can play in 2D or 3D. However, even after a patch installed, it still crashes when I switch to 2D mode, though the 3D is much better than in CM 2100.

Game Room:
Allow you to play unofficial games against any personality or yourself. You can see what the Chessmaster is thinking the best line should be and what the "score" of the game is. Two of the better features are the "find the best move" and "analyze game." The "find the best move" will sit an analyze for a specified time, then play out the best sequence of moves, with audio, showing what the best line is. The "analyze game" spends a specified amount of time analyze a game and it will tell you what moves it agreed with, what moves you missed, if you missed a mate, etc. I use it to evaluate real games I have played in tournaments. It's almost like having a master go over your games with you. This is a very good tool.

Classroom:
This is a great feature. You have many tutorials and drills for beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. These include annotated games, chess puzzles, finding mate, checking mating with given pieces and annotated games. Whatever level you are at, you can learn something from it. Then you have session called "Josh." Josh Waitzkin is a International Master and subject of the move "Searching for Bobby Fischer." Josh has audio sections of annotated games, endgame examples, and psychological aspect of competition. This is a nice section, because you can sit back, watch and learn. The pieces move, a human talks, and I've learned a bunch from it. It is more geared to intermediate-advanced players. I can sit back at watch instead of having a board and book and having to mull through variations... instead its played out for me.

Library and Database:
The library and the database has a bunch of stored games and opening book for reference. I haven't spent much time here.

This is 5 star program that almost gets a star knocked off for a couple bugs (It also crashes if you switch profiles.). With the program, the database, and the learning tools, all for $30, you can't go wrong.

Look out folks, despite there being no warning on "some of" the boxes (according to UbiSoft tech support), UbiSoft has brilliantly decided to prevent installation from a CDRW drive. I have a Dell Inspiron 8500 that came standard with a Samsung CDRW/DVD drive, and I am unable to install. Called tech support, and before I even got going, he knew exactly what I was talking about, and claimed there is no workaround for it. I will simply have to return the game (even though I can't now that it's open) to the retailer and will not be able to play it until I buy a CD or DVD drive with no write/rewrite capacity just for this game.

I don't know what genius at UbiSoft came up with this as a notion to prevent piracy, but I've got news for them, you're only hurting potential customers. Blocking CDRW use on the disc itself isn't going to slow down some game cracker. It's only going screw me up.

So since there's no warning about this "feature" on Amazon, and as there's no warning about it on the box itself that I just today received from Amazon, I thought I'd come on here and let people know, lest they waste the purchase price as I did.

These days, almost all laptops come standard with CDRW/DVD drives, why UbiSoft chose to cut off an entire slice of the market is beyond me. Apparently this "feature" is now on all of their PC games. So look out.

I'm sure were I able to play it, it would deserve more than a single star. But because I can't, and because I feel UbiSoft effectively duped me into buying by 'forgetting' the warning, I can't give it higher than that. I'm not slamming the game itself, but rather their policy.

I highly recommend the latest version of ChessMaster - It combines almost every imaginable feature one could
want in a playing program, and includes many tutorials, some by Josh's first chess instructor, Bruce Pandolfini!

It has at least 150 different historic and custom made 'personalities', some of which are children players and beginners.

The manufacturer of CM 9000, the Ubi Soft company provides good customer support for this product, and is quite responsive to user feedback, for new features in the next versions.

I've never been disappointed in a ChessMaster program, which is updated about
once a year. The program is advanced enough for masters, yet comprehensive enough for complete beginners and children. Also, the price is quite nice for such a complete program.

Since getting this program, I have used some of the Waitzkin tutorials, and tried the Rate your chess feature, as well as a few of the Larry Evens and John Nunn problems. The program is very rich in all these different tutorials, and is
very challenging for me as a USCF Life Master with a FIDE rating of 2184. (USCF, 2042).

I found it significantly better organized then previous versions of the same program. I do reccomend the following improvements for the next version though;

1: Make the 2d boards resizable using the drag & drop via the right mouse key.
(In fact, please make all windows resizable via draging).

2: Make scrolling through the moves in a game possible with the right arrow key in any envirement, including the tutorials (Use a switch to activiate it, if this is an envirement where you are normally not suppossed to do this, choosing to scroll through moves here, being equivelent to ending the test).

3. Make all the moves of the Josh Waitkin games replayable via the right mouse key, even though Josh only analysis some of his games at the critical moment.

I really hate having to search the database seperately to see all the moves of
these games, & I'm not sure that they are always included in this database either. Also, sometimes Josh refers to his opponent or himself playing a game in this or that same line in an event - I'd really love it, if he would include this refered to game in the database, or better still, in a seperate 'Josh Waitkins selected games' database - A possible new database for a future version!

The above being said, I really think that Josh Waitzkin has found a beautiful, instructive & unique ninch as a chess commentater with these Chess Master products - I've enjoyed his lectures more then any others, and I hope he continues doing this for a long time to come!

Larry S. Tamarkin

This is a complete chess program.

I also have chessmaster 8000, but was not able to run the tutorials effectively. In this version I am having no problems. If you are looking to buy the software my recommendation would be to buy it for the tutorials and for the analysis part of the software. Online gaming is a possibility but hey you have that for free on yahoo's site. And yes you have a lot of different types of chess boards to choose from and to customize how the pieces look, but who really cares about these details?

Tutorials are amazingly insightful. Often the problem with chess books is that they have a diagram and they talk about this diagram for a couple of paragraphs, and unless you really can visualize thanks to years of experience, or else if you make the moves one by one on a chess board as you read the book, you cant really get the jist of what is being conveyed. With CHESSMASTER 9000, however, The moves are made on the board for you step by step as you read the tutorials (or rather they are spoken to you), key moves are shown with arrows, squares and pieces are highlighted etc.

There are 3 levels for the tutorials, beginners level, intermediate and advanced. If you want your kid to learn chess, just start them up with the beginners level. They do not even know how to read in fact, because the computer speaks the paragraphs for you.

The intermediate part of the puzle starts with whites first move, then blacks first move, then whites second and blacks second... all the way up to blacks 4th move. There are 20 to 30 examples for each category.

The other sections of the intermediate tutorial are:

- The 5 basic themes
- The Endgame
- Kings and Pawns
- Queens and rooks
- Minor piece endings
- Mating configurations
- basic combinations
- roots of combinations
- Double attacks
- Sacrifices
- startegy

In the advanced tutorials section, you try to guess the moves of grandmasters from actual championship games. Again, there is detailed analysys for every move.

You will be able to find an opponent from every skill level. There are many personalities to chose from. Lastly, using the score feature for moves, you can enter your moves from real life games step by step and [assess] which move you went wrong, or where you could have made a better play. Definitely 5 stars.

Don't know how to play chess? Wish you could play better? Looking for an all-inclusive tutorial program, plenty of classic and well-annotated games, a monster chess engine, and hundreds of chess puzzles that will make you a better player? This game is for you. Looking for a perfect chess program with robust programming, good graphics and sound, and easy of use? That chess program hasn't been written. Hopefully we'll see that in Chessmaster 10K.

The Chessmaster series is far and away the best chess software out there for people who are serious about learning chess. A lot of work went in to preparing this program to be just that. Unfortunatley not a lot of work went into the interface, which is horrible. The graphics could have been improved with minimal effort - the 3D boards are so horrendous they might as well not have been included. It is difficult to navigate from one section to another. The online feature is particularly poorly designed and basically useless - but there are so many free online services that I consider that irrelevant.

Despite its flaws, this game is still the game to buy. If you are a novice and think playing this game's tutorials will make you a master - think again - but plenty of games against Chessmaster's excellent "personalities" of all levels will prepare you for serious play and certainly make you a better chess player. Chess players seeking to hone their skills will find this program incredibly useful, since the mentoring aspect and advanced strategy sections are complete and easy to understand.

This is definitely a program to own if you are interested in chess. Those seriously concerned with sound and graphics may want to hold off until the next version, but if you intend to start playing chess now, click and buy this software now. At less than $40, it is an amazing value compared to expensive chess books.

Chesssmaster 9000 will indeed support Windows XP, however it will not support Windows 2000. The following is from chessmaster.com:

The next version of Chessmaster (due to be released around the beginning of September, 2002) will support Windows XP/ME/98/95. There are no plans to make the next version of Chessmaster support Windows 2000/NT.

As a class "A" chess player rated at 1850, I can say that chessmaster is probably the best chess program available if you are serious about chess and want to improve your game. If you are looking for better graphics, it doesn't have a whole lot to offer (in fact, it doesn't even have my favorite "bird's eye" view like CM 5000). However, there are so many tutorials on every aspect of chess that it is almost certain that you will come across something you didn't already know. One could easily spend a month going through all the tutorials and annotated games it has.
Also, the skill level has increased to being on par with the world champions (appx. 2800). If you are a novice chess player, then you probably won't notice the increase in skill level (it will whip you like all other chess programs), but if you are an advanced player, then you CERTAINLY will notice the difference. I could at least make CM 5000 work for its victory, but CM 9000 freakin' demolished me! It has improved my game significantly, and renewed my interest in the game.