Customer Reviews

Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess ( Windows/Macintosh )

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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

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.

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.

This tutorial is just excellent. Maurice knows how to teach the concepts and make it FUN! The game spends a lot of time with challenging board drills to increase your tactical sense and board vision. They really work and I'm looking forward to working through all of them to see how far this game takes me towards good club level play. I highly recommend it to any beginner or intermediate player that wants to work on their game! Advanced or high intermediate level players probably won't benefit much from it, however, its fairly inexpensive and the drills are very difficult for me at least. If anything higher levels players could buy it and if they don't benefit from it they can give it as a gift to any aspiring chess players they know, it will be a very welcome and enjoyed present.

I'm a huge Maurice Ashley fan and this is a an excellent program for beginners of any age. Even intermediate players could benefit from the exercises which really develop board vision.

Setup.exe will not install the program under 64 bit Windows, but it can be installed manually simply by copying the contents of the Match folder on the CDROM to the root directory of the C: drive. Find the MATCH.EXE executable file in the newly copied folder, and right click to create a shortcut on your desktop.

In 64bit Win7 the program runs without adjusting compatibility settings, although it runs in a window on my HD monitor. Right click on the desktop shortcut, select properties, then the compatibility tab if you would like to run the program in XP mode, 256 color @ a 640 x 480 resolution.

You must have the CDROM in the drive or mount an image of it for the program to run.

Find MATC @ your library, for $5 or $6 bucks from online software discounters, or for $12 on the USCF site as of the date of this review.

An Oldie but Goodie well worth your time!

I've had this since 1997 and I use it all the time to play chess. Yes, I love it and yes, I give it 5 stars but someone needs to contact Ashley and get him together with a software person and update this so that it can be downloaded on newer operating systems. I have so many people I'd like to give this to as a gift if only it were compatible with circa 2011 operating systems. Please, Mr. Ashley, you're losing so much money by letting this program die.

This educational dvd was advertised as compatible with both Windows and Mac. I don't know about Windows, but it is not compatible with Mac OS. It is worthless to me, after having purchased it.

I love this program and have gotten many hours of enjoyment and learning. However, it won't work with Windows 7. We need an update!