Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess ( Windows/Macintosh )

by Simon&Schuster

Product Features

• Thousands of fast-paced, interactive challenges sharpen your game skills and board visualization
• Interactive video coaching prepares you to play killer chess
• Classic Master Games - analyzed with their exclusive video chalkboard feature - put you inside the minds of chess masters
• Learn strategies you can use to slam-dunk your opponents

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000059P7G
• Item Weight: 10.1 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,969 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Teaches chess for beginning and intermediate players

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best chess tutorial I've seen, January 11, 2003

By 

Prof. Smart (Highland Park, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess ( Windows/Macintosh ) (CD-ROM)

Caution: This program won't work on Windows 2000, but it does work on my Windows XP machine if I use the Program Compatibility Wizard and set it to Windows 98/Me

Review:
I have many chess books. Until recently, other media didn't impress me. I bought Chess Mentor, and enjoy it, but the lessons often use attacks that are too long for me to see. I also purchased The Pro Chess Video Chess Mentor DVD, a series of video lessons with (GM) Yasser Seirawan. Very good, but still just lectures.

Recently, my copy of (GM) Maurice Ashley's 'Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess' arrived. This is a multimedia program, published by Simon and Shuster. It is TOP QUALITY. It was designed for older Windows Operating Systems such as Windows 98 and Me. Consequently, it is out of print.

It is, however, readily available "Used" from Amazon.com or through the internet. Just search for 'Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess'.

This is the real deal, boys and girls. Soon after I started the challenges Mr. Ashley was evaluating my efforts with comments such as 'Wow, that's a really bad move', and proceeded to tell me why. That got my attention, and has held it since. Slowly, I'm getting consistant praise, and my rating is going up steadily.

As an example, check out the 'weak squares' lessons under strategies, folks. I would pay $200, any day, for those lessons.

This program won't work on Windows 2000, but will work on Windows XP if you use the Program Compatibility Wizard.

Chuck Smart
Challenge me on Redhotpawn.com

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Teaching!!! But..., September 11, 2005

By 

Alfred Racho (Manila) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess ( Windows/Macintosh ) (CD-ROM)

First of all, I rate this as 5 STARS because of what it can teach you, which is how to play better chess, especially if you're a rank beginner.

(...)

PROS:

It starts from the very beginning. If you don't know anything about Chess except how to spell it, this is a great place to start. The program teaches you all the rules and what you need to know to start playing Chess.

The exercises are FUN and APPROPRIATE. They are Fun because they are structured like games. They are Appropriate because they subtly teach you techniques, and most of all, how to think.

The most important thing is not the fact that Maurice Ashley is teaching chess, but rather YOU are LEARNING it (of course, you're learning because of his techniques of teaching, so maybe that's a catch 22).

CONS:

(Despite the cons, this still makes 5 Stars because of intent of the program is to TEACH so you LEARN, and it does it admirably)

The cons are:

As some people have said, it may not work in Windows XP unless you have the compatibility mode turned on.

This program was written in the late 90s, so it's a bit dated looking. But that's not the worst of it: it looks like the program was done in the 80s!!! Even Maurice Ashley (God bless him!) looks like he was from an 80's show (think "That's Incredible").

I don't understand it: they write the program in the late 90s, but the whole thing still looks VGA-ish. Sheesh. In this day and age of 32-bit color and large monitors, this program actually works best with 256 colors and 640x480. Give me a break!

Even "Learn to Play Chess with Fritz and Chesster" looks better! Much better.

If you, or you have a child that is 5 years old, get Fritz and Chesster. If you have a child 7 and up (or, like me, 30+, but a rank beginner), get Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess.

Bottom line: ugly graphics and dated look (and cheap sounds) are completely overwhelmed by the QUALITY INSTRUCTION, which is really what this program is all about. If they make an updated version of this, then that would be great.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My family loves this program!, May 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess ( Windows/Macintosh ) (CD-ROM)

I'm an elementary school chess coach with two boys (ages 6 and 12)who love chess. This is a fun program, and I'd recommend it -- especially for kids (but also for adults.) Maurice Ashley is a chess Grandmaster who has coached a number of elementary championship teams. He knows how kids think. His "Championship training" exercises are challenging and fun; I can't leave mine up on the computer because one of my boys will finish it for me. I also especially like the chess instruction; it's explained well enough that my six-year-old can understand it on his own. I've seen big improvement in his play since I purchased this program.

For playing chess there are other programs I like better, but for teaching chess, this one can't be topped.